- Two persons, including a woman, granted citizenship under CAA in Assam
- First time a woman receives citizenship under the Act in the state
- Citizenship deemed effective from date of entry into India
- Total CAA beneficiaries in Assam now stands at four
GG News Bureau
Guwahati, 14th Dec: Two persons, including a woman, have been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Assam, taking the total number of beneficiaries in the state to four, their lawyer said.
Senior advocate Dharmananda Deb said this marks the first time a woman has been granted citizenship under the Act in Assam. He added that she is also the first person in the state to receive citizenship through the registration route under the CAA.
According to Deb, the 40-year-old woman entered India from Bangladesh in 2007 and has been residing in Sribhumi district. The second beneficiary, a 61-year-old man, entered India in 1975 and has been living in Cachar district. The Ministry of Home Affairs issued citizenship certificates to both individuals on Friday, with citizenship deemed effective from the date they entered India.
Deb declined to disclose their identities, citing concerns over possible social harassment.
He said the woman, originally from Chittagong in Bangladesh, had come to Silchar accompanying a family member for medical treatment at Silchar Medical College and Hospital. During her stay, she met a local resident, married him, and later settled in Assam. She applied for citizenship after the CAA rules were notified last year.
Her initial application, filed in July last year, was rejected due to jurisdictional confusion caused by the delimitation exercise ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Parts of Badarpur, where she resides, were moved from Sribhumi to Cachar district, leading to uncertainty over administrative authority. After reapplication, her case was eventually approved.
“This citizenship was granted under Section 5(1)(c), read with Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which allows a person married to an Indian citizen to register as a citizen after residing in India for seven years,” Deb said.
The second beneficiary, a resident of Silchar town, had entered India from Bangladesh’s Moulvibazar district at the age of 11. He later married locally, started a family and was granted citizenship through the naturalisation process.
With the latest approvals, Assam now has four individuals who entered India after the 1971 cut-off and have been granted citizenship under the CAA.
Deb said he has assisted around 25 applicants over the past 18 months, though several applications have been rejected or remain pending. Around 40 people have applied for citizenship under the Act in Assam since the rules were notified last year.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act enables Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Parsi migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971 and December 31, 2014 to apply for Indian citizenship.
The Act, passed on December 11, 2019, had triggered widespread protests in Assam, during which five people lost their lives. The state has nearly two lakh individuals identified as doubtful citizens, though only a limited number have applied under the CAA so far.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has maintained that most Hindu migrants from Bangladesh came to Assam before the 1971 cut-off date.
