Hearing in Supreme Court today on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of CAA

The Supreme Court will hear today 232 petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA). During the hearing held on October 31, a bench of former CJI UU Lalit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhatt and Justice Bela M. Trivedi had ordered Assam and Tripura to file their replies in the matter within two weeks. At the same time, while filing the reply, the Central Government appealed to dismiss these petitions.

While filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court, the Central Government had said that the CAA is a small piece of legislation, which does not affect the rules made for obtaining Indian citizenship. Along with this, the Central Government requested the apex court to dismiss the petitions challenging the CAA, saying that the Act does not in any way encourage illegal migration to Assam. Wrong apprehensions are being spread about this.

If the Citizenship Amendment Act ie CAA is understood in simple language, then under this, non-Muslim migrants from three Muslim neighboring countries of India - Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, also 6 communities - Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis have been brought to India. The rules for granting citizenship have been simplified. Earlier, to get Indian citizenship, it was necessary for a person to stay in India for at least 11 years. Under the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, this rule has been simplified and the period for acquiring citizenship has been increased from 1 to 6 years. The law will apply to those who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh on or before December 31, 2014. Migrants have to apply to get Indian citizenship under this law.