A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court by a Mumbai-based woman seeking a direction to the government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 ‘aggressively’.
Petitioner Puneet Kaur Dhanda asked the court to direct the Election Commission of India to take “strict action” against political parties who were “spreading false rumours and violence in the country”.
The petition sought legal action against those protesting against the CAA, which fast-tracks benefits of citizenship to illegal immigrants who belong to six minority religions from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan but excludes the same treatment for Muslims. The protesters said the CAA was a sure step towards the National Register of Citizens (NRC). It discriminated in the grant of citizenship on the basis of religion and ripped apart the fabric of secularism.
She said an “anti-India stand has become fashion of many students belonging to these institutions [JMI and JNU] who otherwise are famous for the achievement of their legendary students”.
Ms. Dhanda also sought strict action by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting against newspapers and media houses who were “spreading false information and rumours”.
The petition may be listed along with 60 other anti-CAA petitions filed by parliamentarians, civil rights groups, NGOs, political parties, activists and ordinary citizens from all walks of life and across the country on January 22.
Ms. Dhanda asked the apex court instead to clarify and declare that CAA was “not against the spirit of Constitution of India and in no sense against any citizen of India”.
“Political parties against the Central government have spread false rumours across the country regarding the Muslim brothers and sisters of our country that they will be thrown out from the country thereby creating an environment of fear and restlessness as a result of which violence has spread across the country... This has caused a huge economic loss and also bought a bad name to our country,” the petition claimed.
