The Supreme Court, by a 4:1 majority, upheld the constitutional validity of section 6A of the citizenship Act, 1955, that grants citizenship to immigrants who entered Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971. Chief justice of India DY Chandrachud and three other judges upheld the validity of the provision, with justice Pardiwala dissenting. Chandrachud said that the Assam Accord was a political solution to the problem of illegal migration after the creation of Bangladesh and section 6A was the legislative solution. The majority verdict also held that the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, was rational, as it was the date when the Bangladesh liberation war ended.
The Central government in an affidavit had told the Supreme Court that it would not be able to provide accurate data on the extent of illegal migration of foreigners into India as such migration happened in secretive manner. On December 7, the apex court had directed the central government to furnish data on the number of immigrants who were conferred Indian citizenship through section 6A of the citizenship Act, 1955 and steps have been taken so far to illegal migration into Indian territory.
The affidavit had stated that 14,346 foreign nationals were deported from the country between 2007 and 2022, and 17,861 migrants who had entered Assam between January 1966 and March 1971 were given Indian Citizenship under the provision. 32,381 persons were declared foreigners by oders of foreigners Tribunals between 1966-1971 it had added. Earlier, the bench had said that Section 6A was enacted as a humanitarian measure in the wake of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and is deeply interwoven in our history.
Senoir Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for petitioners, had told the bench fabric of the constitution of India and the values of Secularism, fraternity and brotherhood contained in the preamble.
On December 17, 2024 matter relating to the citizenship in Assam was referred to the five-judge Constitution bench. On April 19, 2017, the top court constituted the bench to hear the case.