<p>Citizenship is the right to have rights, and Indian citizenship is both a right and a recognition. In a partitioned land, it is a recognition that those who chose to stay in India were unquestionably Indian. Yet, in recent years, a disturbing trend has emerged – Indians, particularly from marginalised or vulnerable groups, are being declared “foreigners” and deported to countries they have never belonged to. The recent case, where an Indian citizen, a Muslim from Murshidabad in West Bengal, working in Maharashtra, was wrongly deported to Bangladesh despite having documentary proof of citizenship, exposes a broken and dangerous system. Though he has now been recovered and restored to his family in India, the case raises urgent legal and moral questions about the state's accountability, due process, and the sanctity of citizenship.</p> <p>This is not an isolated incident. Across Assam, West Bengal, and other states, people are being declared "foreigners" by tribunals that do not meet basic standards of fairness. These are not immigration courts in the usual sense but quasi-judicial bodies that often function with a presumption of alienness. The burden of proof is on the accused, and in India, where documentation can be a luxury, this becomes a fatal flaw. Tribal people, migrant workers, the poor – those least likely to preserve 50-year-old paperwork – are the first to be targeted. Citizenship is rendered conditional, not by law, but by power and prejudice.</p>.Pushback: Purge sans process?.<p>Contrast this with the United States under Donald Trump, an administration infamous for its anti-immigrant stance. Yes, people were wrongly deported. But crucially, American courts intervened. In several cases, federal judges ordered the government to halt deportations, reopen cases, and even bring back individuals who had been wrongly removed. India, on the other hand, shows no such institutional pushback, and executive effort now seems to bypass courts altogether.</p> <p>Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma has wrongly read a Supreme Court judgment as empowering his state to chuck out suspected foreigners over the border to Bangladesh. The judgment has a passing reference to an old Assam Act of 1950, but it can in no manner be seen as allowing any procedure which is not fair, just and reasonable. Deporting a citizen is not a minor error – it is an unconstitutional act. It effectively strips the individual of all rights: to vote, to live, to return. And yet, we see no systemic redress, no policy shift, no apology. The state washes its hands, often refusing to even acknowledge wrongdoing.</p>.Stop arbitrary deportations. <p>The fear, of course, is that this is not a mere bureaucratic failure. It is a symptom of a deeper ideological shift. In Assam, the NRC (National Register of Citizens) project, ostensibly meant to identify illegal immigrants, ended up excluding nearly two million people, many of them Hindus, contrary to popular assumptions. Citizenship, instead of being a right guaranteed by birth or legal residence, is now being made subject to documentation, religion, and suspicion. We are witnessing a slow-motion erosion of the idea of Indian citizenship itself. And, unless checked, the day is not far when anyone can be told: “You do not belong here” – and be sent off into exile, with no road back.</p><p>(<em>The writer is a senior advocate designated by the Supreme Court of India and an occasional media commentator on public questions.)</em></p>
<p>Citizenship is the right to have rights, and Indian citizenship is both a right and a recognition. In a partitioned land, it is a recognition that those who chose to stay in India were unquestionably Indian. Yet, in recent years, a disturbing trend has emerged – Indians, particularly from marginalised or vulnerable groups, are being declared “foreigners” and deported to countries they have never belonged to. The recent case, where an Indian citizen, a Muslim from Murshidabad in West Bengal, working in Maharashtra, was wrongly deported to Bangladesh despite having documentary proof of citizenship, exposes a broken and dangerous system. Though he has now been recovered and restored to his family in India, the case raises urgent legal and moral questions about the state's accountability, due process, and the sanctity of citizenship.</p> <p>This is not an isolated incident. Across Assam, West Bengal, and other states, people are being declared "foreigners" by tribunals that do not meet basic standards of fairness. These are not immigration courts in the usual sense but quasi-judicial bodies that often function with a presumption of alienness. The burden of proof is on the accused, and in India, where documentation can be a luxury, this becomes a fatal flaw. Tribal people, migrant workers, the poor – those least likely to preserve 50-year-old paperwork – are the first to be targeted. Citizenship is rendered conditional, not by law, but by power and prejudice.</p>.Pushback: Purge sans process?.<p>Contrast this with the United States under Donald Trump, an administration infamous for its anti-immigrant stance. Yes, people were wrongly deported. But crucially, American courts intervened. In several cases, federal judges ordered the government to halt deportations, reopen cases, and even bring back individuals who had been wrongly removed. India, on the other hand, shows no such institutional pushback, and executive effort now seems to bypass courts altogether.</p> <p>Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma has wrongly read a Supreme Court judgment as empowering his state to chuck out suspected foreigners over the border to Bangladesh. The judgment has a passing reference to an old Assam Act of 1950, but it can in no manner be seen as allowing any procedure which is not fair, just and reasonable. Deporting a citizen is not a minor error – it is an unconstitutional act. It effectively strips the individual of all rights: to vote, to live, to return. And yet, we see no systemic redress, no policy shift, no apology. The state washes its hands, often refusing to even acknowledge wrongdoing.</p>.Stop arbitrary deportations. <p>The fear, of course, is that this is not a mere bureaucratic failure. It is a symptom of a deeper ideological shift. In Assam, the NRC (National Register of Citizens) project, ostensibly meant to identify illegal immigrants, ended up excluding nearly two million people, many of them Hindus, contrary to popular assumptions. Citizenship, instead of being a right guaranteed by birth or legal residence, is now being made subject to documentation, religion, and suspicion. We are witnessing a slow-motion erosion of the idea of Indian citizenship itself. And, unless checked, the day is not far when anyone can be told: “You do not belong here” – and be sent off into exile, with no road back.</p><p>(<em>The writer is a senior advocate designated by the Supreme Court of India and an occasional media commentator on public questions.)</em></p>