In A 1st, Bangladeshi Woman Living In Assam Gets Indian Citizenship Under CAA

A 40-year-old woman from Assam's Sribhumi district, who entered India from Bangladesh in 2007, has been granted Indian Citizenship - a first under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Senior advocate Dharmananda Deb, a former Foreigners Tribunal (FT) member in Silchar, said the woman, who uses the surname Banerjee, had arrived in Silchar in 2007 to accompany a family member for treatment at Silchar Medical College and Hospital. There, she met a man from Sribhumi (formerly Karimganj district), married him, and stayed back. The couple later had a son. Her family in Bangladesh's Chittagong still lives there, but she had long wished to become an Indian national. After the CAA rules were notified last year, she applied.

Her first application, submitted in July last year, was rejected due to confusion caused by the delimitation exercise before the Lok Sabha elections. Badarpur area, where she now lives, was partially moved from Sribhumi to Cachar, creating uncertainty over her district jurisdiction. The lawyer reapplied, and her case was finally approved.

Deb said she is the first woman in Assam to receive citizenship under the CAA, and notably the first in the state to be granted citizenship through the registration route.

"This was granted under Section 5(1)(c), read with Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which allows a person married to an Indian citizen to register as an Indian citizen after residing in India for seven years," the senior advocate said.

Another man, 61, from the Cachar district, also received citizenship.

According to Deb, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued the certificates on Friday, and the citizenship is deemed effective from the day both individuals entered India. Deb declined to disclose their names, citing possible social harassment.

The CAA, passed on December 11, 2019, had sparked statewide protests, particularly in Assam. Since the rules were notified last year, nearly 40 people in the state have applied. The legislation enables Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Parsi migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971 and December 31, 2014, to apply for citizenship.

Assam has nearly two lakh individuals identified as doubtful citizens, but only a small number have applied under the CAA so far. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has repeatedly said that most Hindus migrated to Assam before the 1971 cut-off.