The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday refused to hearing pleas challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that has led to several deaths of people protesting the controversial law across the country.
An SC bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant took up the hearing today and refused to stay the implementation of CAA, Indian media sources reported. The bench issued a notice to the central government about all 59 petitions challenging the act.
The top court said it will hear the pleas on January 22.
Read More: What is India’s anti-Muslim bill?
The previous week, the Indian government introduced a controversial bill in Parliament that would allow citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from three neighboring countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This says that the law will create a legal route granted to Indian nationality on a religious basis.
Read More: Protests erupt across India over citizenship law which excludes Muslims
After the passage of the bill, widespread protests erupted in the country which turned violent after thousands of students protested the bill. More than 100 students, several of whom were shot were injured when police used baton charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.
