CAA petitions in Supreme Court: All you need to know

Agencies / Updated: Jan 22, 2020, 08:34 IST

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CAA petitions in Supreme Court: All you need to know

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear more than 140 petitions challenging or supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) on Wednesday.
Here is all you need to know about the CAA petitions filed in the Supreme Court —

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Sanjiv Khanna will hear the pleas, which also include one filed by the central government seeking transfer of such petitions pending before several high courts to the apex court.
Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court and high courts across the country for and against the CAA.
The court is likely to hear a batch of 143 petitions, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
IUML said in its plea that CAA 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.
The plea filed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Act is a "brazen attack" on core fundamental rights envisaged under the Constitution and treats "equals as unequal".
Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the CAA, including by RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi. The other petitioners include Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGOs 'Rihai Manch' and Citizens Against Hate, advocate ML Sharma, and law students have also approached the apex court challenging the Act. The Act has also been challenged by the Kerala government in the Supreme Court.
On January 9, the apex court had refused to entertain a plea seeking that the CAA be declared constitutional, saying the country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence that endeavour should be for peace.
Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal have also said that they will not implement the amended law.
However, Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid have said that state governments cannot legally refuse to implement the law.
There have been protests in different parts of the country against the Act. BJP is also reaching out to the people mobilise support for the newly amended citizenship law and "remove misconceptions created by the opposition".
The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

(With inputs from agencies)

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