“I make it clear that nobody should try to make India as another Islamic country, otherwise it will be a doomsday for India and the world. I am confident that only this Government under Shri. Narendra Modiji will understand the gravity and will do the needful as requested above and our Chief Minister Mamataji will support the national interest in all respect”. Justice S R Sen of Meghalaya High Court said in a judgement issued on December 10.
Hearing a case of refusal to issue domicile certificate to person by the Meghalaya government, the court said that difficulties faced by the residents to get the Domicile Certificate and the Permanent Residence Certificate have become a great issue today, which need to be seen in the context of the partition of India. While saying that no Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos should be denied citizenship in India, the judgements go into the detail of the history of India’s partition.
Justice Sen said that partition of the country was done in hurry by politicians, which had led to many problems now. He said that “the demarcation of the boundary between Pakistan and Hindustan as well as the Referendum is totally unfiltered and our political leaders were too much in a hurry to get the independence without considering the future generation and interest of the country, thus, creating all the problems today”. He says that the Boundary Commission appointed for partition of the country did not do any work and drew an imaginary line to divide India into two pieces.
The court also says that “India achieved independence through bloodshed and the worst sufferers were the Hindus and Sikhs who had to leave their forefather’s property, birthplace with tear and fear”. Although rehabilitation of Sikhs was done, the same was not done for Hindus, it adds.
Justice Sen says that laws are made for the people and people are not made for laws, and laws cannot be effective until and unless the history and real ground reality is taken into consideration. Therefore, he requested the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Law Minister and Members of the Parliament to bring a law to allow the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to live in this country peacefully and with full dignity without making any cut off year and to give them citizenship without any question or requirement of any documents. He said that such people may be allowed to come to India at any point of time and the government should arrange for their rehabilitation and declare them citizens of India.
“Pakistan declared themselves as an Islamic country and India since was divided on the basis of religion should have also been declared as a Hindu country but it remained as a secular country”, the court said in the judgement. The judgement also called for a uniform law for all Indian citizens and said that anybody opposing the Indian laws and constitution cannot be considered as citizens of the country.
Justice Sen also directed that a copy of the judgement should be handed over to Prime Minister, Home Minister and Law Minister by 11th December for necessary steps to safeguard the interest of the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Christians, Parsis, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have already come to India and who are yet to come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and other countries. “This Court expects that Government of India will take care of this judgment in the historical background and save this country and its people”, the judgement said. The judgement was also ordered to be sent to West Bengal chief minister and Meghalaya governor.
The judge noted that the ongoing process to update the NRC in Assam is “defective as many foreigners become Indians and original Indians are left out which is very sad”.
The judgement showed confidence that only this Government under Narendra Modiji will understand the gravity, and will do the needful as requested by the court.
The high court accepted the petition of Amon Rana and ordered Meghalaya government to issue him a domicile certificate so that he can apply to join the Indian Army.
It may be noted that the Citizenship amendment bill of 2016 brought by the Modi government seeks to implement the suggestions made in the Meghalaya high court’s order. The amendment seeks to provide citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Read full judgement below:
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