Two granted Indian citizenship in Assam under CAA, including first woman recipient

Guwahati: Two individuals, including a woman, have been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 in Assam, taking the total in the state to four, their lawyer said.

Senior advocate Dharmananda Deb, a former member of the Foreigners' Tribunal in Silchar, noted that this is the first time a woman in Assam has received citizenship under the CAA.

The 40-year-old woman, originally from Chittagong, Bangladesh, entered India in 2007, settled in Sribhumi after marrying a local man, and applied for citizenship after the CAA rules were notified.

Her initial application, filed in July 2024, was rejected due to jurisdictional confusion caused by the delimitation exercise before the Lok Sabha elections, which shifted parts of Badarpur from Sribhumi to Cachar.

Her subsequent application was approved under Section 5(1)(c), read with Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which allows foreign spouses of Indian citizens to register after residing in India for seven years.

The 61-year-old man, a Silchar resident who came to India in 1975 from Moulvibazar, Bangladesh, married locally, started a family, and received citizenship through naturalisation.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued its citizenship certificates on December 12, 2025, with citizenship considered effective from their respective entry dates.

Names have been withheld due to potential social backlash.

So far, Assam has four individuals who entered India after the 1971 cut-off and received citizenship under the CAA.

Deb said he has assisted around 25 applicants over 18 months, but many applications have been rejected or remain pending. About 40 people in the state have applied since the rules were notified.

The CAA allows 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 Act, passed on December 11, 2019, triggered widespread protests in Assam, resulting in five deaths.

The state identifies nearly two lakh individuals as doubtful citizens, but only a small number have applied under the CAA.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated that most Hindus migrated to Assam from Bangladesh before the 1971 cut-off date.