NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DEC 12
Ahead of all, including the opposition parties, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2019 on Thursday.
The IUML, moved to SC barely a day after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha, saying the law violated the basic and fundamental value of the Indian Constitution that “all should be treated equally alike” and should be struck down as unconstitutional.
In its petition, the IUML said the Bill flagrantly “discriminates” against religiously persecuted Muslim immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Article 14 of the Indian Constitution envisages that ‘all should be treated equally alike’, wherein it implies that the law should give equal treatment for all … If the object of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 is to protect the ‘minorities who faced religious persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh’, then the Ahmaddiyya and Shia sect among these countries are entitled to equal treatment for the benefit of the law. It is well-documented that the sect discrimination within religion exists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Therefore, the extension of benefit of the Act to the religious minority such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, but denying the same to Ahmaddiyya and Shia sect within these countries is unable to satisfy the objective sought to be achieved, which is protection of minorities facing religious persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh,” the petition, filed by advocates Haris Beeran and Pallavi Pratap, said.
The petitioners clarified that they are aggrieved by granting of citizenship to one section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion on the basis of religion.
“Illegal migrants are class by itself and therefore any law which is applicable to them should be irrespective of any religion, caste or nationality basis,” they said.
The petitioners include prominent IUML leaders and MPs such as P.K. Kunhalikutty, E.T. Mohammed Basheer, Abdul Wahab, K. Navas Kani
They have sought that the Supreme Court strike down the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 for violation of the fundamental right to equality under Article 14.
“The Preamble of our Constitution envisages that India is a secular country and therefore every law which is passed by the Parliament has to be religion neutral. No law can be passed by the Parliament if the basis of such a law is religion. That strikes at the root of the concept of secularism which is the basic structure of the Constitution. The present Amendment Act excludes a particular community/ religion… This is not only unreasonable but against the principles enunciated under Article 14 of the Constitution,” the petition said.
The petition said the law sought to segregate persons on the basis of their religion and grant them the benefit of naturalisation.
“This religious segregation, without any reasonable differentiation, not only violates Article 14, but is also blatantly opposed to the very Basic Structure of the Constitution and to the very idea of India as a country which treats people of all faiths equally. Not only does the Amendment Act outrightly discriminate on the basis of religion, it also legitimises the grant of citizenship on the basis of religion,” the petition said.
