Chakrabarty: Citizenship Deprivation as an Act of Persecution: Case Study of t Citizenship Deprivation as an Act of Persecution: Case Study of the Assam Citizen Exercise As A Precursor to A Nation-Wide Determination of Citizenship By Ishita Chakrabarty Abstract This essay explores the reasons behind describing India’s Citizenship practices (now modified through the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019) as ‘persecutory’. In doing so, the essay refers to the international law on citizenship conferment and withdrawal that has traditionally been viewed as exclusive to a state’s sovereign domain. The essay also looks into the socio-political dynamics, past persecutory conduct exemplified by the Assam-NRC exercise and the lack of protection afforded by those entrusted with the legal duty of conferring and withdrawing citizenship. The essay further uses the Assam-NRC exercise as a case study to claim that there exist well-founded grounds for believing that a subsequent action of this nature will involve real risks for the country’s 200 million Muslim population. I Introduction In December 2019, the Indian Government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, on the pretext of providing citizenship to those fleeing religious persecution. Although the preamble of the Amendment Act contains no mention of “persecution”,1 the Statement of Objects and Reasons as it stood in the Bill at the time of introduction 2 and the Union government’s own affidavit before the Supreme Court of India (SC)3 claim that the Act serves a humanitarian purpose of providing relief to those who are “forced to seek shelter in India due to persecution on grounds of religion”. 4  Research Officer at Quill Foundation, New Delhi, India, E-mail: ishita.chakrabarty24@gmail.com Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, No. 47 of 2019, an Act further to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, online: The Gazette of India <http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214646.pdf> [“CAA, 2019”]. 2 Lok Sabha, “Synopsis of Debates” (2019), online (pdf): <http://loksabhadocs.nic.in/Synop/17/II/2Supp+Supp+Syn-09-12-2019.pdf>. 3 Indian Union of Muslim League v Union of India (2019), Supreme Court of India, Counter Affidavit of the Union of India, Writ Petition (C) No. 1470 of 2019, online: <https://scobserverproduction.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/case_document/document_upload/1191/Counter_Affidavit_filed_by_Union. pdf>. 4 The Amendment Bill was originally introduced in the Parliament in 2015. 1 Published by Osgoode Digital Commons, 2021 1