The legal status of non-citizens in India presents a significant challenge to the universalist aspirations of the Indian Constitution. While the Constitution distinguishes between 'citizens' and 'persons', granting a core set of fundamental rights to the latter, the practical realisation of these rights is often mediated by a stringent statutory framework. This paper examines the evolution of rights for non-citizens, beginning with the Constituent Assembly's intent to provide a baseline of human dignity regardless of nationality. It analyses the primary legislative instruments—the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Registration of Foreigners Act of 1939—which grant the executive branch near-absolute powers over the entry, stay, and expulsion of non-citizens. The analysis highlights a persistent tension: while Article 21 and the principle of non-refoulement offer judicial protection to refugees and asylum seekers, contemporary issues such as the "architecture of rights violations" in Assam's Foreigners Tribunals and the religious criteria of the CAA, 2019, indicate a transposition toward security-driven exclusion. This paper makes the case for a unified legislative framework that balances national security with India's long-standing humanitarian commitments by contrasting India's strategy with those of the US and the UK.
Singh et al. (Mon,) studied this question.