Institute for Migrant Rights
Railway line at Cianjur station, c. 1890 · KITLV, CC BY 4.0

Migration Jurisprudence from the South › India

In re Section 6A of the Citizenship Act

Supreme Court of India · India · 2024-10-17 · National court

Citation: 2024 INSC 789 [check citation]
Type of case: Constitutional and human rights
Outcome: Decided for the migrant side

Question

Is the rule giving citizenship to people who came to Assam from Bangladesh before 25 March 1971 constitutional?

What the court decided

Yes, by four to one. Section 6A, which implements the Assam Accord, was upheld.

In plain language

Groups in Assam argued that the law giving citizenship to earlier migrants from Bangladesh was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld the law, so those people keep their citizenship.

Dalam bahasa sederhana

Kelompok di Assam berpendapat UU yang memberi kewarganegaraan kepada migran awal dari Bangladesh inkonstitusional. MA mempertahankan UU itu, sehingga mereka tetap menjadi warga negara.

Pertanyaan: Apakah aturan yang memberi kewarganegaraan kepada orang yang datang ke Assam dari Bangladesh sebelum 25 Maret 1971 konstitusional?

What happened afterwards

  • 2014-12: Question referred to a Constitution Bench.
  • 2024-10-17: Section 6A upheld.

Sources

Open this decision in the interactive collection (compare, filter, Indonesian view, downloads).

Cite as: Institute for Migrant Rights (2026), Migration Jurisprudence from the South, version 0.1, https://theimr.org/court-decisions/d/in-section-6a-2024/. This page summarizes a court decision for research and advocacy; it is not legal advice.

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