The Supreme Court on Monday is slated to hear several petitions contesting the constitutionality of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act. There are 220 petitions on the list for consideration by a bench made up of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat. The group of PILs against CAA, which includes the lead argument from the Indian Union of Muslim League, is one of them.
The court presided by the Chief Justice will consider many petitions that have been languishing for a few years, including one challenging the legality of the CAA, whose passage caused huge demonstrations around the nation.
The revised law aims to offer citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants who arrived from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014, and who are members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi groups.
While hearing the group of appeals on December 18, 2019, the supreme court declined to halt the application of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). However, the Centre had received notifications from the SC.
The top court had asked for the Center’s answer by the second week of January 2020, however owing to COVID-19-induced limitations and the number of attorneys and litigants involved, the subject could not be heard in its entirety.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), one of the petitioners, said that the statute violates the fundamental right to equality and seeks to offer citizenship to some illegal immigrants by enacting an exclusion based on religion. A temporary halt to the application of the statute was requested in the petition.
Another petition was submitted by Congressman Jairam Ramesh, who referred to the Act as a “brazen attack” on essential constitutional rights and said it treats “equals as unequal.”
Other individuals who oppose the law have signed petitions, including RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Muslim organisation Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Peace Party, CPI, NGOs “Rihai Manch” and “Citizens Against Hate,” attorney M L Sharma, and law students.
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