A five-judge constitution bench said that Section 6A was enacted as a humanitarian measure in the wake of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and is deeply interwoven in our history.
The Act was enacted in pursuance to the 1985 Assam accord for granting citizenship to migrants from Bangladesh who had crossed over to India before March 25, 1971.
The Assam accord was signed between the central government, Assam government, All-Assam Students Union, and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad in New Delhi, on August 15, 1985. At that time, Rajiv Gandhi was India’s prime minister.
