The hearing of a number of petitions contesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, was postponed by the Supreme Court on Monday. A new hearing date has been set for September 19, news agence ANI reported.
At least 220 petitions against the CAA were being heard by a bench consisting of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat.
On December 18, 2019, the Supreme Court held its initial hearing on the arguments made against the CAA.
On December 11, 2019, the Parliament approved the CAA, which was then faced with opposition nationwide. On January 10, 2020, the CAA came into effect.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a political party with roots in Kerala, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, NGOs Rihai Manch and Citizens Against Hate, Assam Advocates Association, and law students are
As the first state to contest the CAA, Kerala’s government also brought a case before the Supreme Court in 2020.
The law expedites the citizenship process for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who sought shelter in India on or before December 31, 2014 after being persecuted for their faith in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan.
The top court had already warned the Centre and declined to grant a temporary injunction suspending the law without consulting the Centre.
The CAA Act is a “benign piece of law,” according to the affidavit the Centre submitted to the top court in March 2020, and it has no effect on any Indian citizen’s “legal, democratic, or secular rights.”
The CAA does not breach any basic rights, according to the Centre, which also described the law as legitimate and stated there was no chance it would go against constitutional values.
According to the petitions, the Act, which liberalises and expedites the citizenship granting to non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, encourages discrimination based on religion.
Aside from violating secularism, Articles 21 (right to life), 15 (prohibiting discrimination based on race, caste, sex, or place of birth), and 19 (right to freedom), as well as the clauses governing citizenship and constitutional morality, the amendments have also been contested on a number of other grounds.
According to the argument put up by Congressman Jairam Ramesh, the Act “brazenly attacks” the essential fundamental rights envisioned by the Constitution and “treats equals as unequal.”
The 2019 Act revised the Citizenship Act, 1955, making illegal immigrants who meet the following criteria eligible for citizenship: (a) they are from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan; or (b) they are members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian groups.
Only immigrants who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014, are eligible. The Northeast is excluded from the clause, under the modification, in some places.
(With Inputs From ANI)