1. Framing the Intervention 19 This vulnerability is compounded by deep definitional ambiguities in Indian law. The Foreigners Act, 1946 defines a “foreigner” merely as a person “who is not a citizen of India”,16 while the Citizenship Act defines an “illegal migrant” as a foreigner who enters without valid documentation or overstays a visa.17 Crucially, Indian law does not distinguish between citizens without documentation, persons entering the country irregularly, and persons fleeing persecution. Consequently, administrative and quasi-judicial bodies such as the FTs exercise their broad discretion to determine the fate of a disparate range of persons without any meaningful sensitivity to the legal task at hand. India’s obligations under international law— the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as customary international law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)— require citizenship decisions to be transparent, proportionate, and grounded in fair procedure. As this report shows, the current regime fails to meet these standards. It risks making exclusion a routine bureaucratic practice, rather than treating it as an extraordinary measure to be used sparingly and with the utmost legal scrutiny. This issue continues to escalate. Since May 2025, the Government of Assam has illegally “pushedback” hundreds of persons—allegedly undocumented Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya refugees—into Bangladesh.18 In June 2025, the Assam Government claimed to have pushed back over 330 persons across the border into Bangladesh.19 Several among those “pushed back” have their appeals pending before the Gauhati High Court and the Supreme Court of India.20 These actions have created a spectre of constant danger, leaving the lives of declared foreigners at risk at all times. The case of Rahim Ali serves as a haunting reminder of what is at stake. It is not merely about the correct interpretation of documents or the technicalities of jurisdiction. It is about the lives of people who, having always belonged, are forced to prove their belonging before a system that too often treats them with suspicion rather than fairness. The law must do better. 10 Citizenship Act 1955, s 3. Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986, s 2. Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003, s 3. 13 Centre for Public Interest Law, ‘Securing Citizenship: India’s Legal Obligations towards Precarious Citizens and Stateless Persons’ (Jindal Global Law School 2020) <https://jgu.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/jgls/SecuringCitizenship-Report_CPIL.pdf> accessed 29 June 2025. See also Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948) UNGA Res 217 A(III) (UDHR) art 15. 14 Salah Punathil, ‘Precarious Citizenship: Detection, Detention and “Deportability” in India’ (2022) 26 Citizenship Studies 55; Urmitapa Dutta, Abdul Kalam Azad and Najifa Tanjeem, ‘Examining Citizenship Regimes in Assam through a Structural and Cultural Violence Lens’ (2024) 73 American Journal of Community Psychology 294. 15 Citizens for Justice and Peace, ‘“Spent Last Few Days In Terror”: Assam Women Allegedly Pushed Into Bangladesh Speak Up’ (The Wire, 4 June 2025) <https://thewire.in/rights/assam-women-pushed-into-bangladesh-returned> accessed 29 June 2025; Arunoday Mukharji, ‘Assam: “I Was Pushed across the Border into Bangladesh at Gunpoint”’ (BBC News, 5 June 2025) <https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ cqj78v79z9do> accessed 29 June 2025. 16 Foreigners Act 1946, s 2(a). 17 Citizenship Act 1955, s 2(b). 18 Rokibuz Zaman, ‘How Rohingyas Were Expelled from Assam Detention Centre, despite Their Pleas Pending in Court’ (Scroll.in, 22 May 2025) <https://scroll.in/article/1082630/how-rohingyas-were-expelled-from-assam-detention-centre-despite-their-pleas-pending-in-court> accessed 29 June 2025; ‘Assam to Revive 1950 Law to Oust Illegal Migrants sans Court Order’ (The Times of India, 8 June 2025) <https://timesofindia. indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/assam-to-use-75-yr-old-law-to-push-back-illegal-migrants/articleshow/121698594.cms> accessed 29 June 2025. 19 Sukrita Baruah, ‘330 Deported to Bangladesh: Himanta Cites 1950 Law to Say District Collectors Can Push “Foreigners” Back’ (The Indian Express, 10 June 2025) <https://indianexpress.com/article/india/330-deported-to-bangladesh-himanta-cites-1950-law-to-say-district-collectorscan-push-foreigners-back-10057454/> accessed 29 June 2025. 20 Sushanta Talukdar, ‘How Assam’s Pushback Politics Is Weaponising Citizenship’ (Frontline, 25 June 2025) <https://frontline.thehindu.com/ the-nation/assam-pushback-policy-illegal-migrants-bangladesh-citizenship-crisis/article69699823.ece> accessed 29 June 2025; Zaman (n 18). 11 12