The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear a batch of more than 200 petitions linked to the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) by the Centre. The petitions seek a stay on the implementation of the CAA and the Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024.
Last week, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned a plea filed by the Kerala-based Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) before the Supreme Court, saying that the Centre's move to implement the contentious law was questionable as the Lok Sabha elections are fast approaching.
The petitioners challenging the law have submitted that the CAA discriminates against Muslims on the basis of religion.
Besides the IUML, some of the other petitioners include Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra; Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh; AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi; Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia; NGOs Rihai Manch and Citizens Against Hate, Assam Advocates Association; and some law students.
The IUML, Debabrata Saikia, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (a regional student outfit), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) have also challenged the CAA Rules, 2024 through which the CAA was implemented.
Kerala was the first state to move the Supreme Court against the CAA in 2020, saying that it was against the provisions of the Right to Equality granted by the Indian Constitution.
In his plea to the Supreme Court, Owaisi said, "The evil posed by the CAA is simply not one of under-inclusion of grant of citizenship, but is very blatantly the isolation of a minority community to selectively take action against them consequential to the denial of citizenship."
Throughout the case, the Centre had maintained its stand and had said it wouldn’t affect the legal, democratic or secular rights of citizens and requested the court to dismiss petitions challenging it.
The CAA amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to provide a fast-track pathway to Indian citizenship for migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian communities and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, due to facing religious persecution in their home countries.
