Police Disperse Women, Children Protesting Over CAA Outside Supreme Court

Around 20 women along with children gathered outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday night to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act ahead of the hearing on the contentious law in the court.

The protesters sat at the front gate of the Supreme Court, following which the police dispersed them from the area, a police official said.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Wednesday a batch of pleas seeking to examine the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, which had issued notice to the Centre on December 18 on various pleas is likely to hear a batch of 143 petitions, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, for the first time, makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution before 2015. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.