The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine an NGO’s plea challenging a Calcutta High Court judgment which had declined to interfere with a petition that sought protection from disenfranchisement of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Christian refugees who entered India in 2014, but were yet to be granted citizenship.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, heading a bench, issued notice to the Centre, the Election Commission and the Bengal government, posting the matter for further hearing to December 9.
The plea would be taken up with petitions challenging the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in Bengal.
The Supreme Court bench, which included Justice Joymalya Bagchi, passed the directive while dealing with the appeal filed by NGO Atmadeep.
A Calcutta High Court judgment refused to grant protection to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Christian refugees from disenfranchisement despite the fact that their applications for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, were pending before the government.
According to the NGO, even though the refugees fitted the requirements for citizenship stipulated under the 2019 amendment Act, their applications had not been processed till date despite entering India in 2014.
The petitioner feared that as citizenship had not yet been granted, the refugees also stand to be ousted from the electoral rolls.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, seeks to grant citizenship to all persecuted minority community members, except Muslims, persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. A batch of multiple petitions challenging the amendment and exclusion of the Muslim community has been pending in the Supreme Court since 2020.