Issuing a notice to the central government over the constitutional validity of the controversial new citizenship law challenged by 59 petitioners, the Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stay the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The three-judge bench including Justices Surya Kant and BR Gavai headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde has adjourned the next hearing to January 22 to hear the pleas. While the court stated that it will have to see whether the Act has to be stayed, advocate Rajiv Dhawan claimed that there was no necessity for a stay as the law hadn’t come into effect. Adding to this, the Chief Justice has suggested the Attorney General to take the help of audio-visuals to increase the awareness in citizens regarding CAA.
On the other hand, the protests in New Delhi reached to the third day in a row as the protesters pelted stones and bricks at the security personnel while the police broke tear gas on them. While Modi took to the public rally in Jharkhand on Tuesday to pacify the protests saying, “We brought the Citizenship Amendment Act for the prosecuted minorities in neighbouring countries. I assure that no citizen of the country would be affected by the new law.”
