Supreme Court to hear over 140 pleas challenging Citizenship Amendment Act today

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear in excess of 140 pleas against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which include a majority seeking that the court examine its constitutional validity.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, had issued notice to the Centre on December 18 on various pleas including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

The top court had sought the Centre's response by on nearly 60 pleas challenging the CAA's legality, which has swelled to over 140, and fixed the hearing on January 22.

The anti-CAA petitions, also include those filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

The challenge to Citizenship Amendment Act in the Supreme Court comes in the backdrop of countrywide protests against it, and Union minister Amit Shah's reiteration that the law will stand despite the opposition.

The CAA grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities -- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian -- who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following religious persecution.

The petitions filed later have also sought a stay on the operation of the legislation which came into force on January 10.

On January 9, the apex court had refused conduct urgent hearing on a plea seeking that CAA be declared constitutional. The apex court had observed that saying the country is going through difficult times against the backdrop of violence in many states, and therefore the endeavour should be for peace.

With IANS inputs