How a Nationwide Register of Citizens violates Citizenship Laws and the Constitution
Prameela K
Published on: 6 March 2021, 05:22 am
The primary question to ask is whether any existing law requires citizens to possess certain documents or to register as proof or condition of citizenship. There exists no such law or requirement under the citizenship laws in India, writes MOHAMMAD WASIM.
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IN the ever-shifting landscape of the meaning and scope of citizenship, one feature has remained immutable—that citizenship is the bedrock of a gamut of other rights. Citizenship confers superior rights and privileges on individuals who are citizens and excludes others. Indeed, a person or group shorn of citizenship loses the right to humane treatment, as the Roma, Kurd, and Rohingya people would testify.
Therefore, any measure that impacts citizenship must meet the rigorous standards of due process and ought to be carried out with the most conscientiousness, more so in a polity where citizens are sovereign. Let us examine the Indian citizenship law in this context and see how the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) fares.
In India, the acquisition of citizenship and the criteria to determine citizenship are solely governed by Part II of the Constitution and the Citizenship Act, 1955.
“Citizenship confers superior rights and privileges on individuals who are citizens and excludes others. Indeed, a person or group shorn of citizenship loses the right to humane treatment, as the Roma, Kurd, and Rohingya people would testify. The NRC puts a retrospective condition of possession of documents for recognition of citizenship, which is a gateway to several fundamental rights and is thus arbitrary and unconstitutional.
The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, was framed to fulfill the mandate of section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Section 14A stipulates compulsory registration of Indian citizens who would be issued a National Identity Card. The Rules deal exclusively with the National Register of Indian Citizens or NRC, and not with the criteria or process for the acquisition and determination of citizenship. That would require compliance with sections 8, 9, and 10 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
