New Delhi: Amid nationwide protests against the amended Citizenship Act, the home ministry on Friday said no Indian citizen will be unduly harassed or put to inconvenience by asking to prove citizenship by showing documents like birth certificates of parents or grandparents dating back to a period before 1971.
In a series of tweets, a ministry spokesperson said illiterate citizens not having any documents, will be allowed to produce witnesses or local proofs supported by members of community.
The assurance comes as the possibility of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise being undertaken at a national-level has compounded confusion and fear, particularly among Muslims, who dread they will not have the security cover of the CAA if left out of the NRC list.
"#Citizenship of India may be proved by giving any document relating to date of birth or place of birth or both. Such a list is likely to include a lot of common documents to ensure that no Indian citizen is unduly harassed or put to inconvenience," the spokesperson said. A well laid-out procedure in this regard will be issued by the home ministry.
"Indian citizens do not have to prove any ancestry by presenting documents like identity cards, birth certificates etc of parents/grandparents dating back to pre-1971 situation," the spokesperson said.
The tweets came a week after the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by the Parliament and assented by the President last week. According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants, and be given Indian citizenship.
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