India’s Supreme Court delays hearing citizenship law pleas
Posted December 17, 2019 10:39 pm.
NEW DELHI — India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday postponed hearing pleas challenging the constitutionality of a new citizenship law that has sparked opposition and massive protests across the country. The court said it would consider the pleas on Jan. 22.
Protests and widespread condemnation have been growing against the Citizenship Amendment Act, with demonstrations erupting in India over the last week.
The new law applies to Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally but can demonstrate religious persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims.
Critics say the new law is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government’s agenda to marginalize India’s 200 million Muslims and goes against the spirit of the country’s secular constitution. Modi has defended it as a humanitarian gesture.
University students across India have been leading a campaign to have the law overturned.
On Sunday, marches by students at New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh descended into chaos when police fired tear gas and beat unarmed protesters with wooden sticks.
Scores of students were injured. Police say they acted with restraint.
The police response to the protests has drawn widespread condemnation. It also has sparked a broader movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Demonstrations have erupted across the country, with thousands rallying in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, authorities tightened security restrictions, implementing a curfew in the northeastern state of Assam, where ongoing protests have disrupted daily life in Gauhati, the state capital. They also restricted assembly in a Muslim neighbourhood in New Delhi where demonstrators torched a police booth and several vehicles on Tuesday.
The Associated Press
