Top court reserves verdict on key section of Citizenship Act

A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it does not deny that the issue of illegal immigration is "serious" while reserving orders on a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act.

- Abraham Thomas

The five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said that the court will confine itself only to the validity of Section 6A after the Centre, represented through solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, objected to a "wrong" remark made during the arguments claiming Assam was once a part of Myanmar.

The issue of influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar is pending before another bench of the top court.

The bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant, MM Sundresh, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said, "We have already made it clear. We will confine ourselves to the validity of Section 6A." This provision was introduced in 1985 by Parliament, extending citizenship to migrants from Bangladesh who settled in Assam after coming into the country between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971.