Citizenship Amendment Act protests LIVE Updates: Left leaders detained from Mandi House; over 1,000 people held near Red Fort – Firstpost, Firstpost.com

Police personnel stop local residents who were holding a protest against Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC at Sarai Hakim Gali in Aligarh on Wednesday. PTI

The top court also issued a notice to the Center and sought its response by the second week of January 7798071, on a batch of pleas challenging the CAA.

A bench also comprising Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant fixed the petitions, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, for hearing on January ******************************************************************************************************************************.

The bench also agreed to the submission of lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay that common people should be made aware about the aim, objectives, and the contents of the CAA, and asked Attorney General KK Venugopal, who was representing the Center, to consider Using audio-visual medium to make citizens aware of the legislation.

Venugopal agreed to the suggestion and said that the needful would be done by the government. During the hearing, some lawyers appearing for petitioners sought a stay on the operation of the newly amended law.

One of the lawyers, appearing for a petitioner hailing from Assam, said “Let it not be implemented … five students in the Northeast have died.” The Attorney General opposed the submission and said there are as many as four judgments which have held that a law cannot be stayed after being notified.

“We are not going to grant a stay,” the bench said, adding that arguments on granting stay can be advanced on 59 January, the next date of hearing.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who represented one of the parties, however, said there was no need to seek the stay on the operation of CAA as it has not come into force because several things like the framing of rules under the law are yet to be done.

Another senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal agreed with Dhavan’s submission and said, “We have nothing to say right now”.

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), one of the petitioners which has challenged the CAA, said in its plea that the law violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion on the basis of religion.

The Parliament cleared the Act on 12 December, which grants citizenship rights to religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists, who have come to India on or before (December, ********************************************************************************************************************. ********

President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, (on) ************************************************************************************************************************************** December, turning it into an Act.

The plea by IUML, filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap, sought an interim stay on the operation of CAA and the Foreigner Amendment (Order), and Passport (Entry Into Rules), Amendment Rules, 2019.

The petition alleged that the government CAB was against the basic structure of the Constitution and intended to explicitly discriminate against Muslims as the Act extended benefits only to people of some religions.

The plea filed by Jairam Ramesh, has said that the Act is a “brazen attack” on core fundamental rights envisaged under the Constitution and treats “equals as unequal”.

In his petition, Ramesh has said that substantial questions of law, including whether religion can be a factor to either acquire or deny citizenship in India, arises for consideration of the court as it is a “patently unconstitutional” amendment to the Citizenship Act, (********************************************************************************************************************************. ********

“The impugned Act creates two classifications, viz, classification on basis of religion and the classification on the basis of geography and both the classifications are completely unreasonable and share no rational nexus to the object of the impugned Act ie, to provide shelter, safety and citizenship to communities who in their native country are facing persecution on grounds of religion, “the plea has said.

Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the Act including by RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

Several other petitioners include Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGOs ‘Rihai Manch’ and Citizens Against Hate, advocate ML Sharma, and law students have also approached the apex court challenging the Act.

Your job isn’t to set India afire, but to douse it: Mamata Banerjee tells Amit Shah

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday continued her campaign against the Citizenship Amendment Act and slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the violent protests against the law.

She said that his “job is not to set the country on fire but to put it out.”

Also taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ slogan, she said the BJP government had brought “satyanaash” (disaster) for everyone in the country.

“I urge Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure that the nation does not burn. Your job is not to set the country on fire, but to douse it,” she said after leading a protest march against the law from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade in Kolkata.

Protests against the amended Citizenship Act have erupted in several states of the country including West Bengal. Agitators had set fire to trains, railway station complexes and buses in different parts of the state on Saturday and Sunday.

Appealing to Shah to take care of the country and “control” BJP cadres, the Trinamool Congress supremo reiterated her stand of not implementing the NRC and the amended Citizenship Act saying they were “two sides of the same coin”.

“You (Shah) said none will lose citizenship. But now you are (also) saying neither PAN, nor Aadhaar will prove citizenship. Then what will work? An amulet from the BJP? The BJP has become a washing machine , “Banerjee said.

Accusing the BJP of planning to turn the entire country into a detention center, the chief minister said in the rally she will never allow that to happen.

The TMC supremo who has been at the forefront of opposing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the new citizenship law, is scheduled to hold two protest meetings in the next two days.

Banerjee urged agitators not to take the path of violence but protest in a democratic way.

Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan also visited the Madras University locations in Chennai and expressed solidarity with students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Haasan was, however, not allowed to enter the main campus and spoke to the agitating students from behind the main gate of the university, opposite the Marina Beach. The MNM chief said he was at the varsity to express solidarity with the students, who are on the protest for the third day on Wednesday.

Kamal Haasan: I am not allowed to go inside. Till I die, I will call myself a student, I have come here in that capacity to be their defender. I will keep voicing whether or not I have started a party and now that I have started a party it becomes my duty to be here.https://t.co/pkdsv1MFxPpic.twitter.com/ Kpn9AFHu********

– ANI (@ANI)December (************************************************************************************************************************************************, ********************************************************************************************************************************************************

“There are efforts to silence the voices of around students . I have come here to lend my face as their podium and my vocal cords as their microphone. I will keep voicing (objections) regardless of whether I have started a political party or not. Now that I have a party, it becomes my duty to be here and voice. All over India, these kind of voices are rising, and you cannot silence them, “he said to reporters.

Nationwide peaceful anti-CAA protests continue

Meanwhile, protests against the law continued in campuses and cities across the country.

Maharashtra: Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule joined students of Savitribai Phule University who were protesting against# CitizenshipAmendmentActin Pune, earlier today.pic.twitter.com/0l0Z2xOnmw

– ANI (@ANI)December (************************************************************************************************************************************************, ********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Chennai: Manithaneya Makkal Katchi hold protest against# CitizenshipAmendmentActoutside the residence of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palaniswami.# TamilNadupic.twitter.com/6Adsn5yNNJ

– ANI (@ANI)(December (***********************************************************************************************************************************************, *****************************************************************************************************************************

Digvijaya Singh, Congress in Bhopal on # CitizenshipAmemdmentAct

: All those people who believe in the Constitution of India will never allow the implementation of this black Act. pic.twitter.com/Hf8d0wTZ6w

– ANI (@ANI)(December (**********************************************************************************************************************************************, ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************