The Transnational Human Rights Review, Vol. 8, Iss. 1 [2021], Art. 1 religion entitled her to contest that she could not be categorized as an “illegal migrant” and in light of the same, even the charges under the Foreigners Act, 1946, could be dropped against her. This is the same provision that also allows individuals to claim “persecution” for naturalization. Finally, the Assam NRC has not been a stand-alone exercise, but has been preceded and followed by widespread lynching of Muslims, perceived as “cow slaughterers”; anti-conversion laws, including recently enacted legislations reminiscent of racial segregation, to curtail what the state terms as attempts by Muslims to proselytize Hindus by luring women; targeting of religious symbols; alteration of the autonomous status of the only Muslim-majority territory, Kashmir; transferal of ownership of a contested land which was destroyed by Hindu majoritarian groups in favor of the Hindu majority party, despite acknowledging the illegality of their acts and by subjecting the minority to a higher standard of evidentiary requirements; excessive use of antiterror legislations against the minority community without substantial evidence; and hate acts of violence and speeches not only considered as dehumanizing but with the potency to incite violence. In July 2019, the Indian government published a Notification about conducting a door-to-door exercise of NPR to cull out a shorter list of citizens (NRC).158 The pilot project was to commence earlier in 2020, despite there being no further instructions passed since 2019 – virtually leaving it to officials to decide how it is implemented; thereby renewing fears amongst the community over well-founded grounds of sustaining a nation-wide persecution where the only options are between deportation, mass incarceration or survival as second-class citizens. V Conclusion The international community’s response to the Indian citizenship practices has either been restricted to the overt exclusion of Muslim refugees from naturalization, or have been described as persecutory, without any preceding legal assessment. But legal assessments too, must not completely skirt questions of politics and the fact that lawfully enacted neutral-appearing laws can also possess adverse consequences. Prima facie, the Legislation appears to only exclude all Muslim ‘refugees’ from naturalization – but Ministerial statements and practices, have actively linked the Legislation with the preparation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) to exclude 158 Registrar General Citizenship Registration Notification, SO 2753 (E) (31 July 2019), online: <http://dnh.nic.in/eGazette/13Sep2019/ESeries1SrNo11Dated12Sep2019.pdf>. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/thr/vol8/iss1/1 DOI: 10.60082/2563-4631.1096 28