CAA norms can be applied to Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka: Madras HC

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• Oct 18, 2022 | Dhupali Das

Justice GR Swaminathan made the remarks while hearing a petition for Indian citizenship filed by...

Digital Desk: The Madras High Court's Madurai Bench has stated that the principles of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, which offers persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh the opportunity to obtain Indian citizenship, could be applied to Sri Lanka. It asserted that the island nation's Hindu Tamils were the main targets of racial conflict.

Justice GR Swaminathan made the remarks while hearing a petition for Indian citizenship filed by S Abirami (29), a non-camp Sri Lankan refugee from Tiruchy. The judge noted that though Abirami’s parents were migrants, she was born in India. "She has never been a Sri Lankan citizen and therefore the question of renouncing the same does not arise," he said, adding that if Abirami’s request was not granted, it would create a risk of her becoming stateless. Such a situation has to be avoided, he added.

Further, pointing out the recent amendment made in the Citizenship Act, he stated, "Though Sri Lanka does not fall within the said amendment, the same principle is equally applicable. One can take judicial notice of the fact that the Hindu Tamils of Sri Lanka were the primary victims of the racial strife." The judge instructed the state to send Abirami's application to the MHA, and she also instructed the Ministry to decide on her application within four months.

In her appeal, Abirami claimed that she was born in Tiruchy in December 1993. She said that her parents had entered India legally during the time of the ethnic turmoil and that her father had even extended his visa to June of this year. Meanwhile, she and her mother have registered as non-camp (residing outside a rehabilitation camp) Sri Lankan refugees with the local police. Despite having an Aadhaar card and a PAN card, she was unable to obtain an Indian passport or citizenship, which led her to seek help from the HC.

It should be noted that the Joint Committee on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, cited the MHA's justification for not incorporating Sri Lanka in the ambit of the amendment in its report to the Lok Sabha on January 7, 2019.

According to the report, the MHA had made it clear to the committee that migrants or refugees from other nations, including Sri Lanka and Myanmar, will be cared for under the rules of the Standard Operating Procedure released by the Center on December 29, 2011.