Woman among two granted citizenship under CAA, tally rises to five

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,” he explained.The second beneficiary, a resident of Silchar town, came to India at the age of 11 from Bangladesh’s Moulvibazar district, and had also married locally, and started a family. He received citizenship through the naturalisation process.Assam now has five individuals who entered India after the 1971 cut-off and have been granted citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.Deb said he has assisted around 25 applicants over the last 18 months, but many applications were rejected or remain pending.Around 40 people have so far applied for citizenship in the state since the rules were notified last year.The Act enables Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, and Parsi immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971 and December 31, 2014 to apply for citizenship.The CAA, passed on December 11, 2019, had sparked statewide protests in Assam, leading to the death of five persons in the violence.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 claimed that most Hindus migrated to Assam from Bangladesh before the cut-off date of 1971.



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