India Citizenship Amendment Act 2019

Protection of minors

1. There have been several instances of police clashing with and detaining protesters in the Anti-CAA protests.

2. In several cases, those detained were minors under 18 years.

Detention of minors

1. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 has specific procedures and rules in relation to children found to be in conflict with the law.

2. As soon as a child alleged to be in conflict with law is apprehended by the police, the child is to be placed under the charge of the special juvenile police unit or the designated child welfare police officer.

3. That officer should produce the child before the Juvenile Justice Board within a period of 24 hours excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place where the child was picked up.

4. In no case should a child alleged to be in conflict with the law be placed in a police lock-up or lodged in a jail.

NCPCR

1. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is a statutory body set up in 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.

2. The objective of the commission is to protect, promote and defend child rights in India including the rights adopted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 — with an accession by India in 1992.

3. The same convention defines a child as being a human being under 18.

4. The commission works under the aegis of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

5. State Commissions for the protection of child’s rights are also to be established under its supervision.

Powers of the NCPCR

1. The powers given to the commission are extremely broad.

2. It examines and reviews the safeguards provided under any law for the protection of child rights and recommends measures to the government.

3. It can present a report annually, or as it deems fit, for implementation of these measures.

4. The commission can also inquire into the violation of child rights and recommend initiation of proceedings in such cases.

5. While inquiring into such matters, the NCPCR has the powers of a civil court.

6. It also has other powers in terms of commissioning research and framing policy for child protection and safety.

Anti-CAA protests

1. NCPCR issued an advisory to the Directors General of Police of all States regarding the use of children in unlawful activities like stone-pelting during the anti-CAA protests.

2. Certain groups of protesters were involving children in unlawful activities such as stone-pelting and other violent acts during the protests.

3. Such use of children violates the rights of children under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Guidelines of the NCPCR

1. Police and military authorities should avoid blanket characterization of adolescent boys as security threats.

2.  The authorities should take any arbitrary detention, mistreatment, or torture of children extremely seriously, investigate any reports of grave violations immediately, and take action against personnel involved.

Legality of CAA

Against CAA

1. CAA violates the right to equality before the law enshrined in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

2. It marginalizes Muslims as a minority community and uses religious identity as the basis for granting citizenship, which erodes the spirit of the Constitution.

3. Making of Muslim immigrants a second class priority, CAA subverts and destroys fundamental constitutional principles of secularism, fraternity, and humanity.

4. There is no legislative basis for singling out persecution of religious minorities as the basis for granting Indian citizenship.

5. There is no logic in restricting “fast track” naturalization to persons from three countries alone.

6. Persecution of any kind ought to be the sole criterion for granting citizenship to immigrants.

7. Restricting the definition of persecution erodes the premise on the basis of which the republic of India was constructed.

Pro CAA

1. CAA is intended merely to offer amnesty and a speedy route for legitimate migration.

2. CAA doesn’t go against Article 14 of the Constitution as there are enough provisions in the unamended Citizenship Act to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities.

3. Under Article 246 of the Constitution, the Parliament has got the exclusive power to make laws with respect to any matters listed under Union list in the 7th Schedule.

4. Item 17 of the list deals with citizenship and naturalization of aliens, where only Parliament has got sovereign powers to legislate on Citizenship.

5. Article 14 states equality before law and equal protection before law, with provision for reasonable classification of groups to be valid.

6. The persecuted, victimized group based on faith of six communities from the three countries Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, which are declared Islamic countries, form that reasonable classification.

Role of judiciary

Indian courts as a final arbiter have failed when faced with a powerful executive as in the 1975 Emergency.

SC in 2005

1. Supreme Court in a 2005 judgment has held that questions about a person’s place and date of birth, his parents’ names and their place of birth are meant to ascertain citizenship.

2. These personal questions are directly associated with “establishing citizenship”.

3. In order to establish one's citizenship, evidence of (i) his date of birth (ii) place of birth (iii) name of his parents (iv) their place of birth and citizenship are required.

4. These facts would necessarily be within the personal knowledge of the person concerned and not of the authorities of the State.

5. In case of doubts about a person’s citizenship, the burden of proving that these facts were true was on the person concerned.

Population Register

1. The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules of 2003 clearly linked the NPR and the NRC.

3. It states that personal details collected for the 'Population Register' would be used in the preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens.

4. It defines 'Population Register' as a “register containing details of persons usually residing in a village or rural area or town or ward or demarcated area within a ward in a town or urban area”.