Guwahati, Mar 19: The Supreme Court of India is set to hear over 200 petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 today, just weeks before the first phase of voting in the general elections take place.
These petitions are seeking a stay on the CAA’s implementation and the Citizenship Amendment Rules 2004.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, will consider the arguments presented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represents the Indian Union Muslim League.
The CAA was implemented by the Central government on March 11, five years after its parliamentary approval in December 2019.
In 2019, the Indian Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who arrived before December 31, 2014.
Under this new act, migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who are members of the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, or Christian communities and arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in their home countries, will have an expedited route to Indian citizenship.
