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The Supreme Court issued a notice on a petition challenging the amendments of the Central Government respecting the entry of non-muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Nagarikatwa Aain Songsudhan Birodhi Mancha filed a petition through Advocate Manish Goswami against the Passport (Entry to India) Amendment Rules, 2015, The Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015 and SO 4132 dated 23/12/2016 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The new amendment made in the Passport Rules, 2015 permits the people belonging to minority communities in the aforementioned countries to enter India without a passport, on account of religious persecution or fear of religious persecution therein. The minority communities cover Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. For these provisions to apply, such people must have entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
Even the Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015 excludes the applicability of provisions of Foreigners Act, 1946 to the above-mentioned category of people, or in other words, those who are exempted by the Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015. The petitioners coined the phrase “Communally Altered Humanitarianism” to counter the move taken by the Union Government, and therefore it was against the concept of ‘Secularism’ since the government made a distinction between citizens and non-citizens based on religion.
Further, the petitioner contended that the said amendments diminish the definition of “illegal migrant” provided under section 2(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Additionally, the petitioner argued that the government’s move was against the Assam Accord. The Assam Acord treated all the people who entered the state in 1971 as illegal immigrants. They said that the amendment paves the way for illegal migrants, which would lead to exhaustion of already diminishing resources. The amendment defeating the very purpose of the accord, and converting the illegal migrants into legitimate citizens could not be justified.
The Court granted liberty to the petitioner to move the petition after the budget session of the parliament. Earlier, the SC had adjourned a hearing of the petition challenging the Citizenship Amendment bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha but remained pending in the Rajya Sabha. The Chief Justice of India said that the petition would become pointless if Rajya Sabha cleared the amendment bill.
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