First Woman Among Four Bangladeshis Granted Indian Citizenship Under CAA in Assam

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which sparked widespread protests across Assam after its passage on December 11, 2019, has now been used to grant citizenship to two more individuals from Bangladesh, raising the total number of recipients in the state to four.

A 40-year-old woman and a 61-year-old man received their citizenship certificates from the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday, according to senior advocate Dharmananda Deb, who previously served as a member of the Foreigners' Tribunal in Silchar. The citizenship is considered effective from the dates they first entered India.

The female recipient, who became the first woman in Assam to receive citizenship under CAA, originally came from Chittagong, Bangladesh in 2007 to accompany a family member seeking medical treatment at Silchar Medical College and Hospital. During her stay, she met and married a local resident from Sribhumi, had a son, and decided to remain in India.

Her path to citizenship wasn't straightforward. Her initial application submitted in July last year was rejected due to jurisdictional confusion created by the pre-election delimitation exercise, which shifted portions of Badarpur from Sribhumi to Cachar. After reapplication, her case was approved under Section 5(1)(c), read with Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, making her the first person in Assam to obtain citizenship through the registration route under CAA.

The male recipient, now residing in Silchar town, came to India at age 11 from Bangladesh's Moulvibazar district in 1975. He also married locally and established a family in India. His citizenship was granted through the naturalization process.

Despite the legislation being in effect for over 18 months since the rules were notified last year, only about 40 people have applied for citizenship in Assam under the CAA. Advocate Deb revealed that he personally assisted approximately 25 applicants during this period, but many applications were either rejected or remain pending.

The CAA specifically allows Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, and Parsi immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971, and December 31, 2014, to apply for Indian citizenship.

The implementation of the CAA remains a sensitive issue in Assam, where protests against the legislation turned violent in 2019, resulting in five deaths. The state has identified nearly 200,000 individuals as doubtful citizens, yet only a small fraction have sought citizenship under this controversial legislation.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has maintained that most Hindu migration from Bangladesh to Assam occurred before the 1971 cut-off date established by the Act.