SUPREME COURT CITES CAA WHILE GRANTING RELIEF TO PERSON WHO MIGRATED FROM EAST PAKISTAN IN 1969

The Supreme Court in the case Basudev Dutta Versus The State Of West Bengal And Ors observed and has allowed the citizenship claim of an individual who migrated from East Pakistan, now being Bangladesh to India in 1969.

- 

The bench comprising of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice R. Mahadevan was hearing the present matter.

The bench in the case referred to the proviso added to section 2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 Act by the 2019 Amendment to state that the appellant (which belongs to the Hindu religion) would not be treated as an 'illegal migrant'.

The CCA grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

Therefore, the proviso to Section 2(1)(b) states that 'any person who belongs to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan who entered India before December 31, 2014, without valid documents will not be treated as an 'illegal migrant'.

In the present case, the appellant at the age of 16 years, migrated to India with his father in 1969 from East Pakistan, now being Bangladesh and to secure a government job, he applied for a citizenship certificate based on the migration certificate issued to his father.