SC to hear petitions challenging Citizenship Amendment Act tomorrow

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear more than 140 petitions challenging or supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) on Wednesday.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Sanjiv Khanna will hear the pleas, which also include one filed by the central government seeking transfer of such petitions pending before several high courts to the Apex Court.

Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court and high courts across the country for and against the CAA.

There have been protests in different parts of the country against the Act. BJP is also reaching out to the people mobilise support for the newly amended citizenship law and "remove misconceptions created by opposition".

The Act has been challenged by Kerala government in the Supreme Court.

Kerala and West Bengal have also said that they will not implement the amended law. However, Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid have said that state governments cannot legally refuse to implement the law.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.