The bench comprising the Chief Justice and Justice S Ravindra Bhat has posted 220 petitions for hearing, including the lead plea by the Indian Union of Muslim League against the CAA. Several PILs pending for a couple of years in the top court will also be taken up today.
The top court had issued notice to the Centre and had sought its response by the second week of January 2020, however, due to the Covid-19-induced restrictions, the matter could not come up for a full-fledged hearing as it involved a large number of lawyers and litigants.
All you need to know about PILs against CAA
1) The amended law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
2) The new amendments also stated that the mentioned communities who arrived in India till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in these three countries will not be treated as illegal migrants but will be provided with Indian citizenship.
3) President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the legislation on December 12, 2019.
4) Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also said that CAA, 2019, will be implemented on ground the moment Covid-19 wave ends.
5) The CJI-led bench is also scheduled to hear some other PILs including a plea filed by an organisation, We The Women of India, for creating adequate infrastructure under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act across the country for providing effective legal aid to affected women.
6) The plea had said domestic violence continues to be the most common crime against women in India despite the law being enacted more than 15 years back.
7) The top court, hearing the batch of pleas on December 18, 2019, had refused to stay the operation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), but had issued notices to the Centre.
8) The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), one of the petitioners that have challenged the CAA, said the act violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion based on religion.
9) After the Citizenship law was passed by Parliament, widespread protests were witnessed in different parts of India leading to the deaths of around 100 people in police firing and related violence.
10) CAA's detractors believe that the law coupled with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise is intended to target the minorities in the country.
(With inputs from agencies)
