Apex court says no to stopping citizenship law implementation
SUPREME COURT TO HOLD HEARINGS NEXT MONTH ON THE MEASURE
India’s Supreme Court turned down a plea yesterday to stop the implementation of a new citizenship law based on religion that has set off violent protests in the country, but said it would hold hearings next month on the sweeping measure.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) makes it easier for non-Muslims from the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who settled in India before 2015 to gain Indian citizenship.
Thousands of people have protested, saying the law is antiMuslim and the latest in a series of measures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to marginalise the community.
“We want a stay order in the CAA case,” said Kapil Sibal, a lawyer for petitioners who challenged the law in court, adding it was in conflict with parts of the Indian constitution guaranteeing equality to all.
Supreme Court Chief Justice SA Bobde refused requests to hold off the implementation of the law, which came into effect last week.
The court will however hear petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law on January 22.
The Attorney General opposed the submission of a stay plea and said there are as many as four judgements which have held that a law cannot be stayed after being notified.
“We are not going to grant a stay,” the bench said, adding arguments on granting stay can be advanced on January 22, the next date of hearing.
Long way to go
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who represented one of the parties, said there was no need to seek the stay on the operation of CAA as it has not come into force as several things like framing of rules under the law are yet to be done.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), one of the petitioners which has challenged the CAA, said in its plea that it violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion on the basis of religion.
Modi’s government says the law was intended to address the persecution of minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs and Christians in the Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and
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Bangladesh. Those groups, many of whom have been languishing in India for years without rights, will now get an automatic path to Indian nationality if they came from these three countries before 2015.
But protesters say the exclusion of Muslims shows a deepseated bias against the community, which makes up 14 per cent of India’s population, the third largest Muslim population in the world.
Yesterday, authorities tightened restrictions on protesters, expanding a block on the internet and a curfew in Assam, where protests since the law’s passage a week ago have disrupted life in Gauhati, the state capital.
They also restricted assembly in a Muslim neighbourhood in New Delhi where demonstrators on Tuesday burnt a police booth and several vehicles.
After India’s Supreme Court postponed hearing challenges to the law yesterday, huge demonstrations
BJP to come out with FAQ slides:
The BJP also is likely to come up with ‘frequently asked questions’ slides in all vernacular languages and may promote them through official state BJP handles on Twitter and Facebook.
According to a source, some of the FAQs the BJP has already identified are: ‘Will CAA harm citizenship of Muslims living in India?’, ‘Is CAA going to make Assam Bengali-dominated?’, ‘Does CAA stop the opportunity for any Muslim refugees of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to ever get Indian citizenship?’.
But in spite of such detailed efforts, the government isn’t willing to back down even an inch on the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act. erupted in Gauhati, in Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and in Mumbai, India’s financial capital. Protesters also rallied in Srinagar, the main city in disputed Kashmir and in the tourist mecca of Jaipur in the desert state of Rajasthan, and threw stones at buses in Kochi, the capital of the southernmost state of Kerala. Hundreds chanted slogans outside New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University.