The citizenship law which differentiates children on the basis of their date of birth will leave many stateless, a petition filed in the Supreme Court on Friday contended.
Besides challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, for discrimination in granting citizenship on the basis of religion, the petition filed by Association for Protection of Civil Rights, an NGO, challenged the validity of Section 3 (1) of the original Citizenship Act, 1955.
Section 3(1) creates three scenarios. It mandates that children born in India on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987, are entitled to citizenship by birth. Secondly, it says children born in India on or after July 1, 1987, but before December 3, 2004, would be entitled to Indian citizenship by birth only if either of his parents is an Indian citizen. Thirdly, it provides that children born in India on or after December 3, 2004, would be entitled to Indian citizenship by birth only if both of parents are citizens or one of the parents is a citizen and the other is not an illegal migrant.
Hence, while there are conditions for children born between 1950 and 1987, children born in the second and third time-frame may end up stateless.
“Those children who were born in India on or after July 1, 1987, but before December 3, 2004, whose parents were illegal migrants would not be granted Indian citizenship but would not even be considered illegal migrants within Section 3(2) (b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Similarly, those children who were born in India on or after December 3, 2004, either of whose parents was an illegal migrant, would again not be granted Indian citizenship,” the petition contended.
The court will hear the petitions against the CAA and the NRC on January 22.
