Asaduddin Owaisi’s attorney said that they had filed an application in 2019 when the act was passed in Parliament.
Asaduddin Owaisi Supreme Court: Amid the mixed response to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the implementation of the Act.
Owaisi has, in his petition, sought directions to the central government not to entertain or process the applications seeking the grant of citizenship status under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (as it stands amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019) during the pendency of the proceedings.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s attorney Advocate Nizam Pasha while talking to the news agency ANI said that they had filed an application in 2019 when the act was passed in Parliament.
“We had filed a petition in 2019 when CAA was passed, challenging its constitutional validity in Articles 21 and 25. At that time, the application for interim stay was not argued because the lawyers for the central government had said that they had no intention of immediately operationalising the act. Now, after four years, the government has notified rules to operationalise the act and therefore we are filing an interim application asking for a stay of implementation of the act and the rules,” he said.
The rules for the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were notified by the Union Home Ministry on March 11.
In his observations, Asaduddin Owaisi has questioned the fate of 1.5 lakh Muslims, who were allegedly left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list in Assam after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was implemented in the state.
Addressing a public meeting in Hyderabad on Friday, Owaisi said, “Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said the 12 lakh Hindus not listed in the NRC that was conducted in the state will be given Indian citizenship under the CAA. But what about the 1.5 lakh Muslims?”
The CAA rules, introduced by the Centre and passed by the Parliament in 2019, aim to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Earlier in the parliament, Asaduddin Owaisi said that he will continue to oppose the implementation of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) alleging that the legislation is fueled by religious bias and goes against the essence of India.
“This is a wrong law. It goes against the essence of India and is formed purely based on religion. CAA cannot be seen alone. It has to be seen with NPR-NRC. Those Hindus and Sikhs living in Pakistan and Afghanistan can come here; we have never opposed them. A long-term visa allows them to become Indian citizens through a process,” Owaisi had said adding that the CAA aims to “harass” the minorities such as Muslims, Dalits, and the poor of the country.
“It aims to harass Muslims, Dalits, and the poor. AIMIM has always been against CAA and will continue to oppose it,” said the AIMIM chief.
(With ANI inputs)
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