An Open Access Journal from The Law Brigade Publishers 73

CITIZENSHIP FOR A CLASS: AN AMENDED LAW OF

Written by Deepak Sharma

4th Semester LLB Student, Law College, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

ABSTRACT

India is a democratic nation governed by rule of law and has witnessed the supremacy of law in various instances and the principle of rule law is also interpreted by judiciary on several occasions. The Constitution of India has acknowledged the model of separation of powers. Accordingly the primary function of legislature is to make laws. On December 12th 2019, The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (No. 47 of 2019) was enacted by Legislature, which provides the provision of granting the citizenship to class of persons of , or . The aftermath of enactment was not a pleasing one several protest are going throughout the nation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and Public Interest Litigation were filed in the Supreme Court of India.

The Current Study is focused on analysis of enacted statue and its Constitutional validity along with analysis of principle of reasonable classification.

Keywords: Citizenship; Law; Act; Protest; Person; Constitution; India.

Indian Politics & Law Review Journal (IPLRJ) ISSN 2581 7086 Volume 5 - 2020 An Open Access Journal from The Law Brigade Publishers 74

INTRODUCTION

India shares its Borders with many sovereign countries; Nepal, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Myanmar, through these sovereign countries permitted emigration and immigration is allowed, but occasionally illegal migration also takes place from the borders. In order to reduce the overload of illegal immigrants who has entered into the territory of India, the government of India has altered the existing Citizenship Act 1955.

The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 was passed by the legislature on 12th of December 2019. The amended Act provides provision by which Indian citizenship may be granted to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and , who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh on or before 31st December, 2014.

With the current population of India 1,375,937,112 as of Saturday, March 14, 2020, based on Worldometer (Worldometer 2020) with this outbreak of population any Nation will exhaust in its natural and economic resources. Indians are not worried about this outbreak but many of them are protesting for those who are not even the citizen of India and taking the plea that Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 is against the Spirit of Constitution of India and religion oriented. While some are pleading that the “reasonable classification” defense taken by the government is not justified it is not “reasonable classification” but “class legislation” hence fundamentally wrong and unconstitutional (Nagarwal 2019). Many people are opposing it because of they think that it is against the principle of secularism which is affirmed by the constitution of India (Dabhade 2019 ).

Over 160 petitions were also filed various activist, journalist and lawyers including students of some universities against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in Supreme Court of India. Recently, the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights has also moved an intervention application in the Supreme Court on the Citizenship Amendment Act matter.

Thus the prime objective of this article is concerned with the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and analyzing the validity of issues.

Indian Politics & Law Review Journal (IPLRJ) ISSN 2581 7086 Volume 5 - 2020 An Open Access Journal from The Law Brigade Publishers 75

SELECTION OF NON OF AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN AND BANGLADESH: A REASONABLE CL