Guwahati, Dec 8: The Supreme Court on Thursday said the centre must be very serious about what is happening in states bordering Bangladesh as an unchecked influx of illegal immigrants not only impacts demography but stresses resources.
The top court also asked for details of foreigner tribunals and deportations given and steps taken by the government to deal with illegal migration and border fencing, setting a deadline of Monday for all the data to be furnished.
A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud also sought an estimate of all illegal immigrants to India, including but not limited to Assam, after March 25, 1971, when the war of Bangladesh began.
The apex court was considering a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of section 6A of the Citizenship Act. This provision provided citizenship to illegal immigrants who entered and settled in Assam from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971 and was inserted into the 1955 Citizenship Act in 1985, as a special provision to deal with the citizenship of people covered under the Assam Accord — a tripartite agreement signed by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the Assam government and the then Rajiv Gandhi-led Union government, to preserve and protect the cultural, linguistic and social identity of Assam.
The hearings, which began on Tuesday, have so far focused on the impact of illegal immigration in Assam. But on Thursday, the court sought to expand its purview. “Irrespective of what happens on Section 6A, this is a constitutional court, and we want to know what is being done to address the problem of illegal immigration,” the court said.
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