NEW DELHI: A day after the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was passed by both house of the Parliament, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Thursday approached the Supreme Court on Thursday challenging the Bill alleging that the Bill violates the fundamental Right to Equality of the Constitution.
IUML Members of Parliament P K Kunhalikutty, E T Muhammed Basheer, Abdul Wahab and K Navas Kani are also petitioners in the case. It is learnt that senior advocate Kapil Sibal will appear for IUML in the apex court.
The petitioners state that while they do not oppose the grant of citizenship to migrants, they are aggrieved by the discrimination and illegal classification based on religion. The exclusion of Muslims from the Act amounted to religion-based discrimination.
The other grounds include that the amendment Act discriminates on the basis of religion and consequently violates Article 14. There is an unreasonable and arbitrary classification of countries and that there are other religious minorities in the 3 countries which have been excluded and there is no reason for exclusion of minorities from other countries.
“The Act contravenes the principle of secularism and therefore violates basic structure of the Constitution,” the petition reads.
“Indian Constitution only recognizes citizenship by birth, descent or acquisition by bonafide residence. The Act makes religion a criteria for citizens a criteria for citizenship. The linking of religion to citizenship is opposed to secularism, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” stated the petition.
The petitioners seek the striking down of the Act as unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and sought stay on the act till the pendency of the case.
The Bill which was cleared in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday saw 125 MPs voting in its favour and 99 against it. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
(THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS)