Citizenship (Amendment) Bill may benefit ‘declared foreigners’
The HinduThe Citizenship Bill, 2019 that will be introduced in Parliament on December 9 is also likely to benefit the non-Muslims who were declared illegal migrants by various Foreigners Tribunals in Assam. The redrafted Bill has a provision to abate “any proceedings pending against a person under this section in respect of illegal migration or citizenship before any authority including Foreigners Tribunals, courts etc.” The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 by seeking to grant citizenship to undocumented non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. Assam’s Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma had told the Hindu last week that after the Citizenship Amendment Bill is cleared by the Parliament, there will be a fresh legislation for preparing a pan-India NRC with a uniform cut off date. The Citizenship Bill will however provide immunity to illegal Hindus excluded from NRC as it seeks to grant citizenship to Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, Jain and Sikh communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.