India has granted citizenship to 36 Bangladeshi nationals under its Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), according to Indian media reports. Of them, 35 were granted citizenship in the eastern state of Odisha, while one Bangladeshi national received Indian citizenship in the northeastern state of Assam.
At a special ceremony organised by the Odisha state government, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi welcomed the new citizens, describing the CAA as “a symbol of assurance and shelter for persecuted minorities,” reports The Hindu and NDTV.
According to The Hindu, the 35 migrants from Bangladesh were formally handed Indian citizenship certificates on Thursday under the provisions of the CAA enacted in 2019. With this latest move, the total number of people granted citizenship under the Act in Odisha has risen to 51. Officials said around 1,100 applications are currently under process in the state.
Data from Odisha’s census directorate show that all 35 newly naturalised citizens are Hindus. Under rules that came into effect on 11 March 2024, non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India before 31 December 2014 due to religious persecution are eligible to apply for Indian citizenship. The Odisha recipients were granted citizenship in line with these provisions.
Meanwhile, Assam has granted citizenship under the CAA to a Bangladeshi woman for the first time. The 40-year-old woman, a resident of Sribhumi district, entered India from Bangladesh in 2007.
Dharmananda Deb, a senior lawyer and former member of the Silchar Foreigners’ Tribunal, said the woman—who uses the surname “Banerjee”—had travelled to Silchar Medical College and Hospital in 2007 for the medical treatment of a family member. During that time, she became acquainted with a local man from Sribhumi district (formerly Karimganj), whom she later married. The couple has one child.
Although her family continues to live in Chattogram, Bangladesh, the woman had long expressed a desire to acquire Indian citizenship, Deb said. She applied last year after the CAA rules came into force.
Deb added that she is the first woman in Assam to be granted citizenship under the CAA and the first person in the state to receive citizenship through the registration process. Her citizenship was granted under Sections 5(1)(c) and 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which allow a person married to an Indian citizen and residing continuously in India for seven years to obtain citizenship by registration.
