Sarbananda Sonowal v. Union of India

In the 1970s and 1980s, many Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants migrated to and settled in Assam, India. Resentment against the Bangladeshi migrants led to violent unrest and death, culminating in the mass killing of 3,000 Bangladeshi immigrants by members of a student-led group. In response, the Indian government (defendant) granted Indian citizenship to all immigrants from Bangladesh who had settled in Assam before 1971. The Indian government also enacted the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act (IMDT), which created special courts to determine whether an individual was an illegal migrant. Pursuant to the IMDT, which was in effect only in the Indian state of Assam, the burden of proving that an individual was not an Indian citizen fell on the government. In all other areas of India, migrants remained subject to the 1946 Foreigners Act, which placed the burden of proving Indian citizenship on the individual. Sarbananda Sonowal (plaintiff) led the student movement in Assam. Sonowal sued India, claiming that the IMDT was arbitrary, unreasonable, and discriminated against Indian citizens in Assam who were denied a mechanism to detect and remove foreigners from India, which citizens of India’s other states were still permitted to access. Sonowal argued that Article 355 of the Indian constitution required the Indian government to protect its states from external aggression and internal disturbances.