אזרחות מיוחדת בהסכם אסאם (§6A)

Section 6A operates on persons of Indian origin who came to Assam from the specified territory (Bangladesh), sorted into date-of-entry cohorts. (1) Pre-1-January-1966 cohort (§6A(2)): all persons of Indian origin who came to Assam before 1 January 1966 from the specified territory — including those whose names were in the electoral rolls used for the 1967 General Election to the House of the People — and who have been ordinarily resident in Assam since their entry, are deemed to be citizens of India from 1 January 1966. (2) 1-January-1966-to-before-25-March-1971 cohort (§6A(3)): every person of Indian origin who (a) came to Assam on or after 1 January 1966 but before 25 March 1971 from the specified territory, (b) has since been ordinarily resident in Assam, and (c) has been detected to be a foreigner, must register with the specified registering authority; on such detection, if his name is in any Assembly or Parliamentary electoral roll, it is deleted. Both cohorts are subject to the §6A(6) opt-out and the §6A(7) non-application clauses. Section 6A(7) excludes anyone who was already a citizen of India immediately before the 1985 amendment's commencement, and anyone expelled from India before that commencement under the Foreigners Act, 1946. The post-25-March-1971 position falls outside §6A: as the Supreme Court held in In Re Section 6A (2024), persons who entered after 25 March 1971 are illegal immigrants and §6A does not confer citizenship on them.

The pre-1966 cohort acquires citizenship by operation of law: §6A(2) deems them citizens from 1 January 1966, with no registration step, subject only to the §6A(6) opt-out. The 1966-1971 cohort follows a detection-and-registration procedure: detection as a foreigner is made by a Tribunal constituted under the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964; the person is deemed detected on the date the Tribunal submits its opinion; the person then registers with the registering authority specified in the Central Government's rules under §18, and his name is deleted from any electoral roll on detection. The Explanation to §6A(3) provides that the Tribunal's opinion holding the person a foreigner is sufficient proof of the clause (c) detection requirement, and it channels any residual question either to the Tribunal's finding or to a fresh reference. Section 6A(6) permits a person in either cohort to opt out by a declaration, in the prescribed form and to the prescribed authority, within sixty days of the 1985 amendment's commencement (or, for the §6A(3) cohort, within sixty days of that commencement or of detection, whichever is later): a §6A(2) person who so declares is treated as not having become a citizen, and a §6A(3) person who so declares need not register. As of 2026-07, the §6A(3) registration mechanism is, in operational terms, largely spent because detection of the 1966-1971 cohort is historical, and the Supreme Court has confirmed that post-25-March-1971 entrants fall outside §6A altogether.

Section 6A — 'Special provisions as to citizenship of persons covered by the Assam Accord' — was inserted by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985 (Act 65 of 1985), with effect from 7 December 1985, to give statutory effect to the 1985 Assam Accord. It establishes a self-contained, Assam-specific citizenship regime keyed to three cohorts defined by date of entry from the 'specified territory' (the territories included in Bangladesh immediately before the 1985 amendment's commencement). Section 6A(1) supplies the definitions: 'Assam' (the territories in the State of Assam immediately before the 1985 amendment), 'detected to be a foreigner' (detection under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 by a Tribunal constituted under that Order), 'specified territory', and 'Indian origin' (a person, or either parent or any grandparent, born in undivided India). Section 6A(8) gives the section overriding effect notwithstanding anything in any other law for the time being in force. As of 2026-07, the constitutional validity of §6A was UPHELD by a five-Judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India on 17 October 2024 in In Re Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955, 2024 INSC 789, by a majority of 4:1 (Justice J. B. Pardiwala dissenting).