6. Conclusion Conclusion: A Regime Beyond Repair The findings of this report lead to one inescapable conclusion: the FT system in Assam is not merely a flawed mechanism in need of reform—it is a legally unsustainable regime that violates the most basic tenets of constitutional democracy and international human rights. At stake is not simply bureaucratic or judicial error, but the systematic erosion of a foundational status in law: Indian citizenship. Citizenship, as the Indian Supreme Court has affirmed, is the “right to have rights.”546 It is the legal anchor of identity, belonging, and protection. The constitutional significance of citizenship status is profound: it determines access to welfare, political participation, and legal recognition. International human rights law is equally unambiguous. Article 15 of UDHR declares that “everyone has the right to a nationality” and “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived” of it. These guarantees impose strict obligations on States: to ensure that the legal processes which adjudicate citizenship are fair, independent, and non-arbitrary. The FT system in Assam meets none of these standards. The time for incremental reform is over. The magnitude and nature of the violations—documented across more than a thousand cases, judicial decisions, and interviews—demand a categorical response. The FT system is not fit for the purpose. It must be dismantled and replaced by a framework grounded in law, fairness, and justice. Until then, the constitutional promise of equal citizenship remains a broken one, and the spectre of statelessness will continue to haunt those arbitrarily subjected to these procedures. 181 546 In Re : Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955 (n 6).