Published 16:09 IST, January 9th 2020
SC questions rationale of CAA related petition, says 'endeavour must be to bring peace'
Responding to a plea demanding ECI action against parties spreading misinformation on the CAA, SC stated that the plea didn't help matters at this juncture.
Responding to a petition demanding strict action from the Election Commission of India (ECI) against political parties spreading misinformation about the Citizenship Amendment Act on Thursday, the Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant stated that it was necessary to bring peace as the country was going through a critical phase. The CJI noted that such petitions did not help matters at this juncture and could lead to more agitations. The bench promised that the matter would be heard as soon as the violence stopped.
Contentions in the petition
The petition filed by Puneet Kaur Dhanda demands the apex court to declare the CAA as "constitutional". Moreover, it seeks a direction to use electronic and print media to extensively give information about the CAA.
Additionally, the plea called for the state governments to aggressively implement this law. Since the passage of this legislation in December, there have been extensive protests across the country.
What is the CAA?
The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, they will not be considered as illegal migrants. Additionally, the mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for these communities would be reduced to 5 years.
Several parties in the North East such as the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) have been vehemently opposed to this legislation. To ameliorate their concerns, the Centre has exempted a major part of the North East from the ambit of the CAA. The opposition contends that the Bill discriminates on the basis of religion, which might go against Article 14, which guarantees the right to equality.
Updated 16:09 IST, January 9th 2020