India's top court defers challenges to new citizenship law

India’s top court defers challenges to new citizenship law

Author: Web Desk

India’s top court has deferred a hearing on cases challenging the constitutional validity of a new law that introduced religion-based criteria for citizenship, sparking a month of often violent protests across the country.

A three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde on Wednesday (Jan 22) said a larger constitution bench would consider requests to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government from implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act.

It is unclear when the court will issue a ruling.

At stake is the secular fabric of the Indian constitution and democracy, according to critics of the new law. It allows undocumented migrants of all faiths except Islam from neighbouring Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to seek Indian citizenship.

Petitioners including students, Muslim groups, lawyers, and politicians, say such discrimination on the basis of religion is not permitted under the constitution.

Mr Modi’s government has maintained the new law aims to give citizenship to persecuted minorities from the three neighbouring countries and the protests are the result of fear mongering by the opposition.

India’s Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the court the government was opposed to a stay of the act or postponing the process of preparing National Population Register.