STATELESSNESS IN INDIA The large-scale migration following Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, and the ensuing religio-ethnic tensions in Assam from 1979-1985,23 led to the passage of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983 (“IMDT Act”), whereby any person or State agency could accuse anyone of being an ‘illegal migrant’ and bore the burden of proof of the allegation when the person was tried. Ultimately, the Assam Accord was signed in 1985 which provided for citizenship for pre-1971 migrants in the state of Assam. Controversial electoral roll revisions during this time24 led to the suspension of important political rights, such as the right to participate in elections, particularly for Muslim religious and linguistic minorities.25 In its 1997 revision,26 through house-to-house enumeration, the Election Commission of India (EC) used the “D” mark to indicate people with doubtful or disputed status of citizenship. The process was highly arbitrary due to the unchecked discretionary power given to executing officers.27 Around 370,000 voters, including people who relocated or who were absent during enumeration, particularly women residing in marital homes, were marked “D” and only 200,000 among them were referred to FTs.28 Over the years more people were marked ‘D’ and in the 2019 electoral rolls, 113,738 people remained D-voters.29 A large portion of people declared as foreigners as a result of this process have been Muslims.30 23 The Nellie Massacre of 1983 killing of over Bengali Muslims was the most lethal of all. See, Granville Austin Working a Democratic Constitution - A History of the Indian Experience, New Delhi: Oxford University Press (1999) p. 541; Harsh Mander, The Hindu, Nellie: India’s Forgotten Massacre, December 14, 2008. 24 One of the triggers behind the Nellie Massacre of 1983 is said to be the claim of students and political organisations that names of irregular immigrants were found in voter lists and these should be taken off. See, Shorbori Purkayastha, the Quint, Nellie Massacre – How Xenophobia, Politics Caused Assam's Genocide, February 18, 2020. 25 Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, incorporated in 1985, suspended voting rights of the people who came to Assam (India) between 1st January 1966 and 24th March 1971 for 10 years while accepting their citizenship , Annexure E. 26 White Paper on Foreigners' Issue, 2012. 27 Sagar, The Caravan, Case Closed: How Assam's Foreigners Tribunals, Aided by the High Court, Function like Kangaroo Courts and Persecute Its Minorities, November 6, 2019. 28 White Paper on Foreigners' Issue, 2012. 29 The Telegraph, Assam Government Told the Assembly That There Are 113,738 Doubtful or D-Voters in the State, March 3, 2020. 30 Rohini Mohan, Scroll.in, ‘Worse than a death sentence’: Inside Assam’s sham trials that could strip millions of citizenship, July 30, 2019. 4