Effect and cause

• Courts provide temporary relief to individuals facing citizenship issues in India’s border states.

• Jaynab Bibi, a “foreigner” labelled as such, was deported by the Supreme Court of India.

• Rakshanda Rashid, a Pakistani national, was ordered to repatriate to India after being deported to Pakistan.

• High Court judge Rahul Bharti emphasized the importance of human rights and the need for courts to respond “SOS”-like without examining the case’s merits and demerits.

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019, offering citizenship to six non-Muslim communities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, adopted a narrow view of “religious persecution.”

• The rhetoric of senior Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Ministers against minorities has heightened anxiety among marginalized, poor, and sometimes undocumented communities.

• Governments must uphold human rights and dignity, as provided for under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.