On December 9, 2025, the Supreme Court said citizens claiming rights under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) must prove their claims. The law aids religious minorities fleeing persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. But the Court stressed every claim must be thoroughly checked. Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made these remarks in a case filed by NGO Aatmadeep. The NGO, through advocate Anish Roy, said religious minorities, especially from Bangladesh living in West Bengal, fear losing citizenship under the ongoing Special Intensive Revisions (SIR). The CAA exempts these minorities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians — who entered India before December 31, 2014, from being labelled illegal migrants. They can apply for citizenship by naturalisation. The NGO argued that their rights should not be denied due to delayed certificate issuance and SIR complications. However, Chief Justice Kant explained, “You are claiming that you are entitled by virtue of these amended provisions in the CAA to become citizens of this country. But you have not been conferred citizenship so far... The amended provisions might have conferred some enforceable rights in your favour to seek citizenship, but each and every statutory requirement has to be determined, like, do you belong to any minority in that country; were you resident of the country of which minority were permitted to come to India; and in what capacity have you come to India.” He added that if the government has a law, it must also have a clear process to verify claims. Once citizenship is granted, the person can apply to enter the voter list, which the Election Commission reviews regularly. The Court issued notices to the Election Commission, the Centre, and the West Bengal State Election Commission. The hearing is set to continue next week.