Revisiting India’s Amended Citizenship Act 2019 in Light of Constitutional Ethos
Abstract
The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 and the National Register of Citizens in India are perceived as reflective of a religious classification in grant and continuance of Indian citizenship. The study aimed to discuss the future effects of the amended Citizenship Act 2019 and suggest alternatives to accommodate India's constitutional ethos. A considerable fraction of the Indian citizenry was discorded with this Act because Article 14 of the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion, among other grounds. On the other hand, the state's stance asserted that the law aims to protect the persecuted religious minorities from other states. This study dealt with the nuances and intricacies of the problem to explicate viable solutions by an in-depth analysis of the issue in an unprejudiced manner where it used a combined doctrinal and empirical research to assess the perspectives on the policy in the Global South from the Indian experience. The findings reflected that while a majority of the provisions in the Act can be justified based on constitutional parameters, its few provisions are unconstitutional. In summary, even after juxtaposing all the justifications of the Act against the allegations, a considerable portion of the Act remains unconstitutional, and it needs to be revisited based on constitutional parameters.
Keywords: Citizenship Act, Indian Constitution, Right to Religion.
References
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Yoram Dinstein, “Discrimination and International Human Rights” in Israel Yearbook on Human Rights (Brill Publisher, 1985).
AK Srivastava, Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation (Institute’s Journal, 1995).
Akash Kapoor, Legitimate Expectation Doctrine and Protection against Absurdity under the Constitution of India (SSRN, 2019).
Ali Khan Mahmudabad, “Indian Muslims and the Anti-CAA Protests: From Marginalization Towards Exclusion” (2020) 24:25 South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal.
Alice Donald & Erica Howard, The right to freedom of religion or belief and its intersection with other rights (ILGA-Europe, 2015).
Anne F Bayefsky, The Principle of Equality Or Non-discrimination in International Law, Human Rights Quarterly (1990).
Brian Burdekin & Anne Galagher, “The United Nations and National Human Rights Institutions” in International Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms (Brill Publisher, 1998).
B Shiva Rao, ed, Framing of India’s Constitution (New Delhi: Universal Law Publishing, 2015).
Christophe Jeffrelot, “The Fate of Secularism in India”, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (4 April 2019), online:
Deeptiman Tiwary, “Citizenship (Amendment) Act notified, effective from January 10th”, The Indian Express (11 January 2020), online:
Denise G Réaume, “Harm and Fault in Discrimination Law: The Transition from Intentional to Adverse Effect Discrimination” (2001) 2:1 Theoretical Inquiries in Law, online
Farrah Ahmed, “Arbitrariness, subordination and unequal citizenship” (2020) 4:2 Indian Law Review 121–137.
Gary J Jacobsohn, The Wheel of Law: India’s Secularism in Comparative Constitutional Context (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005).
Gautam Bhatia, “Equal moral membership: Naz Foundation and the refashioning of equality under a transformative constitution” (2017) 1:2 Indian Law Review 115–144.
Granville Austin, India’s Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966).
J P Humphrey, “The Implementation of International Human Rights Law” (1978) 24:1 New York School Law Review 31–61.
Jean Dreze et al, “Aadhaar and Food Security in Jharkhand Pain without Gain?” (2017) 52:50 Economic & Political Weekly 50–60.
Jeffrey A Redding, “Secularism, the Rule of Law, and ‘Shari‘a Courts’: An Ethnographic Examination of a Constitutional Controversy” (2013) 57:2 Saint Louis University Law Journal.
Keshab C Ratha, “Interpreting Citizenship Amendment Act: Its Content and Context” (2021) 67:4 Indian Journal of Public Administration 559–572.
Md Tasnimul Hassan, The Origin, History and Legality of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (SSRN, 2020).
Mohd Imran, The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019: Beginning of Selective Humanitarianism & Citizenization of Persecuted Victims in India (BGU: Sarala Birla Memorial National Article Writing Competition, 2020).
M Mohsin Alam Bhat & Aashish Yadav, “On the Verge: Revocation and Denial of Citizenship in India” in Emilien Fargues & Iseult Honohan, eds, Revocation of Citizenship: The New Policies of Conditional Membership EUI Working Paper RSC 2021/23 (San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute, 2021).
Niraja Gopal Jayal, Citizenship and Its Discontents: An Indian History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013).
Rahul Nair, “The Citizenship (Amendment) Act – A Constitutional Defence” (2020) 9:2 National Law Institute University, online:
Rajeev Bhargava, “India’s Secular Constitution” in Zoya Hasan, E Sridharan, & R Sudarshan, eds, India’s Living Constitution: Ideas, Practices, Controversies (Anthem Press, 2005).
Richard T Ashcroft & Mark Bevir, eds, Multiculturalism in the British Commonwealth: Comparative Perspectives on Theory and Practice (California: University of California Press, 2019).
Sangeeta Ojha, “Aadhar Card has nothing to do with citizenship: UIDAI clarifies”, Mint (2020), online:
Shahnawaz Ahmad Malik & Shaharyar Asaf Khan, “Future of Citizenship Laws in India With Special Reference to Implementation of NRC in Assam” (2020) 6:4 Journal of Legal Studies and Research 2455–2437.
Shylashri Shankar, “How Democratic Processes Damage Citizenship Rights: The Implications of CAA-NRC”, Centre for Policy Research (16 December 2019), online:
Sital Kalantry & Agnidipto Tarafder, Death by Paperwork: Determination of Citizenship and Detention of Alleged Foreigners in Assam (SSRN, 2021).
Smaw Chishti, “Secularism in India: An Overview” (2004) 65:2 The Indian Journal of Political Science 83–198.
Sujit Choudhry, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, & Madhav Khosla, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Indian Constitutional Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
Tarunabh Khaitan, “Equality: Legislative Review under Article 14” in Sujit Choudhry, Madhav Khosla, & Pratap Bhanu Mehta, eds, The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2016).
———, “Koushal v Naz: Judges Vote to Recriminalise Homosexuality” (2015) 78:4 The Modern Law Review 672–694.
Thomas Buergenthal, “The Normative and Institutional Evolution of International Human Rights” (1997) 19:4 Human Rights Quarterly 703–723.
T Khan, The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019: A Religion Based Pathway to Indian Citizenship (SSRN, 2020).
Uday Singh Mehta, “Constitutionalism” in Nirja Gopal Jayal & Pratap Bhanu Mehta, eds, The Oxford Companion in India.
Upendra Baxi, “The Myth and Reality of Indian Administrative Law” in Massey, ed, Administrative Law, 8th ed (2012).
Vatsal Raj, “The National Register of Citizens and India’s commitment deficit to international law”, LSE Human Rights (10 August 2020), online
Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar, The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia: Refugees, Boundaries, Histories (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007).
Vrinda Bhandari, Use of Digital ID for Delivery of Welfare (Centre for Internet & Society, 2020).
Yoram Dinstein, “Discrimination and International Human Rights” in Israel Yearbook on Human Rights (Brill Publisher, 1985).
Published
2022-08-31
How to Cite
JAIN, Shilpa; SRIVASTAVA, Ankit; TIWARY, Aditi Richa.
Revisiting India’s Amended Citizenship Act 2019 in Light of Constitutional Ethos.
Lentera Hukum, [S.l.], v. 9, n. 2, p. 303-332, aug. 2022.
ISSN 2621-3710.
Available at: <https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/ejlh/article/view/28430>. Date accessed: 20 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.19184/ejlh.v9i2.28430.
Section
Articles
