New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, the Election Commission of India and the West Bengal government on a petition seeking provisional Special Interim Revision for Hindus, Buddhists and Christians who migrated from Bangladesh before 2014.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the plea filed by the NGO Atmadeep and sought responses from the authorities concerned. The matter is scheduled to be heard again on December 9.
The petition says that many migrants who fled Bangladesh due to religious persecution and applied for Indian citizenship before 2014 have seen no progress on their applications. Under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, these communities are eligible for citizenship.
The CAA covers Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, and were exempted under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946. The 2019 amendment added a provision allowing such groups to apply for registration or naturalisation.
According to the plea, a large number of naturalisation applications from eligible migrants remain pending due to administrative delays. It adds that many others are still waiting to apply under Section 6B through the online system introduced by the Citizenship (Amendment Rules), 2024.
The NGO also notes that several of these migrants have been living in India for years and are already listed on the 2025 electoral rolls. To prevent their disenfranchisement during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision, the petitioner seeks provisional voter enrolment for them.
The plea urges the court to direct authorities to protect the applicants’ status until their citizenship process is completed.
(Inputs from IANS)