Kerala moves apex court against new citizenship law

NEW DELHI: Kerala became the first state to challenge the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA after it moved to the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The plea has been filed as an original suit under Article 131 of the Constitution which empowers Supreme Court to hear disputes between government of India and one or more states.

The petition states that the CAA violates right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution of India, right to life under Article 21 and freedom to practice religion under Article 25.

It argues that CAA is discriminatory because it covers only a class of minorities from a class of countries sharing borders with India and to which and from there have been trans-border migration.

“While the Hindus from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are covered by t he Impugned Amendment Act, the defendant did not consider the issues of the Hindus, primarily of Tamil descend, in Sri Lanka and Hindu Madhesis in Terai of Ne p a l , who s e ancestors migrated to Sri Lanka and Nepal respectively in the eighteenth Century from the then British India,” Kerala government’s petition says.

It further says that CAA covers certain religious minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and overlook other reportedly persecuted religious minorities and sects such as Ahmaddiyas, Shias and Hazaras.

Kerala argues t hat i f t he object of CAA is to protect the minorities who faced religious persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, then, the Ahmaddiyas and Shias from these countries are also entitled to same treatment extended to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain,