172 SOCIO-LEGAL REVIEW VOL. 17 housing on an interim basis.107 The LTV Guidelines also allow applications from applicants fearing persecution in a manner that mirrors the language of the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 (“1951 Convention”).108 LTVs can also be used to apply for Indian citizenship through registration or naturalisation.109 Since India is not a party to the 1951 Convention, the 1954 Convention or the 1961 Convention, and also does not have a domestic law on refugees or stateless persons, the government governs the presence of these groups through the LTV Guidelines.110 The absence of this recognition under an official legislation is significant, considering that in 2021, India housed as many as 208,065 refugees, many of whom are also stateless like the Sri Lankan Tamils.111 Data from the Ministry of Home Affairs indicates that out of the total refugee population, over 94,000 are Sri Lankan Tamil refugees alone, with 59,506 of them living in camps, and 35,000 living outside of camps.112 In the absence of a specific targeted law, refugees and stateless persons are sent into a common immigration system with foreigners, and governed through the state’s political and administrative set-ups under the 1946 Act.113 The 1946 Act comes into play here since it does not differentiate the intent of different groups of foreigners entering India. As Bhairav Acharya highlights, tourists, refugees and migrants have varied reasons for entering India.114 However, since the 1946 Act is agnostic to these differences, it makes refugees and stateless persons vulnerable to detention, trial or deportation.115 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 Long-Term Visa Guidelines, s 5 (iii). Long-Term Visa Guidelines, s 5 (‘well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, sex, nationality, ethnic identity, membership of a particular social group or political opinion’); 1951 Convention, s 1. Form IC-5(1)(A), Form IC-5(1)(B), Form IC-5(1)(C), Form IC-5(1)(D), Form IC-5(1)(E), Form IC-5(1)(E), Form IC-5(1)(F), Form IC-5(1)(G); Citizenship Rules 2009, s 4, s 5, s 6, s 7, s 8, s 9, s 10. Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2623 (2 August 2016) <https://www.mha.gov.in/MHA1/ Par2017/pdfs/par2016-pdfs/ls-020816/2623%20E.pdf>; Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 6307 (5 May 2015) <https://www.mha.gov.in/MHA1/Par2017/pdfs/par2015-pdfs/ ls-050515/6307.pdf>; Press Information Bureau PIB ‘Law for Refugees in India’ (6 August 2014) <https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=108152> accessed 28 July 2021. Chimni (n 5); Bhairav Acharya, ‘The Future of Asylum in India: Four Principles to Appraise Recent Legislative Proposals’ [2016] 9 NUJS Law Review 173; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, India (31 March 2021) <https://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/ files/India%20fact%20sheet%20March%202021.pdf> accessed 28 July 2021. Ministry of Home Affairs, Annual Report 2019-20, para 13. Chimni (n 5); Saurabh Bhattacharjee, ‘India Needs a Refugee Law’ [2008] 43 Economic and Political Weekly 71. Acharya (n 111). Chakrabarty (n 28); Nair (n 28); Bhattacharjee (n 113); Nasreen Chowdhory, ‘Understanding refugee rights in India’ in Nasreen Chowdhory (ed), Refugees, Citizenship and Belonging in South Asia: Contested Terrains (Springer 2018); the Madras HC made this explicit finding in K Arulinbathevar v State of TN, (2017) 4 MLJ (Crl) 121.