A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which was introduced through an amendment in 1985 as part of the Assam Accord.
The judgment was delivered by the bench-led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and also comprising Justices Surya Kant, M M Sundresh, and Manoj Misra, with Justice J B Pardiwala dissenting.
The Assam Accord was aimed at addressing the issue of illegal immigration in Assam.
Section 6A was included in the Citizenship Act to implement this accord, providing a legal framework for determining citizenship for illegal immigrants, mostly from Bangladesh, who migrated to Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971.
In an earlier submission, the central government informed the apex court that it did not have precise data on the extent of illegal migration.
In December, the court had directed the government to provide figures on immigrants who were granted citizenship under Section 6A(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
According to a government affidavit, between 2017 and 2022, 14,346 foreign nationals were deported.
Additionally, 17,861 individuals, who entered Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, were granted Indian citizenship under Section 6A. The affidavit also revealed that between 1966 and 1971, a total of 32,381 individuals were declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunals.
Previously, the bench observed that Section 6A was introduced as a humanitarian response to the aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, a key historical event.
The matter was referred to a five-judge Constitution bench in December 2014, and in 2017, the court constituted a bench to hear the case.
The Assam Accord, negotiated between the Indian government and student and activist groups, including the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), was designed to address the concerns surrounding the influx of migrants from Bangladesh following its independence in 1971.