After almost two and a half years of wait attributed to the covid-19 pandemic, the supreme court finally heard pleas against the Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which, after being passed in both the houses of the parliament garnered a sizeable amount of controversy surrounding accusations of Islamophobia and religious bias as well as a resultant manipulation in the voter demographic.

The supreme court bench comprising CJI UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat took into account all the 228 Anti-CAA petitions filed and deferred the hearing to October 31,2022.

Before adjourning, however, the court demanded an affidavit in response to the petitions from the centre government, giving the centre a total of four weeks before the next plea hearing.

Out of all the petitions filed against CAA, the ones by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress leader Debabrata Saikia and NGOs Rihai Manch and Citizens Against Hate stood out for their socio-political influence.

Furthermore,2020 saw Kerala filing a suit against the CAA in the apex court ,becoming the first state to do so. Petitions also include those by law students who found the act arbitrary, prejudiced and inequitable.

The most significant takeaway of the hearing is that the deferment has been done in favour of a larger, three judge bench

A sizeable amount of criticism came from the northeastern states  like Assam that accrued an influx of immigrants from Bangladesh during 1947, a sizeable amount of whom were Muslims looking for better work prospects.however,the CAA is not the first to fail to recognize economic refugees,in fact,the United Nations in its UN Refugee Convention doesn’t recognize refugees migrating for better work prospects as refugees

The criticism turned into protests and a nationwide uproar that lasted about two years, one of the most recent of these protests being in February of 2022 in Assam organized and spearheaded by many student bodies with  Samuel Jyrwa, president of North East Students Union (NESO) stating,”We have been firm in our stand that the CAA is against the interests of Assam and other states in the region. But despite our earlier protests, the Centre went ahead and enacted the legislation”

On the contrary, however, the BJP Assam chief minister stated,”India is a democratic country and everyone has the right to protest. It will remain to be seen how people react to the fresh protests. I hope the public don’t get swayed by emotions and indulge in disruptive and violent acts (like previous anti-CAA) protests.”

These are not nearly the first of the protests,nor are they the most severe.In December 2019,the protests took a violent turn as five people lost their lives in a police firing.Then again in December 2020 a protest was initiated by 18 groups altogether but it soon dissolved.

The main argument from those who oppose the act is that not only is The CAA unethical but also largely unconstitutional with the All Assam Student Union stating in its writ petition that The CAA omits other persecuted minority communities and selects only three countries. And deems this an unreasonable classification under Article 14.”

With all this commotion as well as the prolonged proceeding that only added to it, one thing is for certain and that is growing anticipation the entirety of the nation has for an amicable resolution.

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