A complaint was filed against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi and journalist Ravish Kumar in Uttar Pradesh for giving provocative speeches against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The complaint was filed by advocate Pradeep Gupta at the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Aligarh. The court has agreed to hear the matter on January 24, 2020.
The alleged speeches were delivered by the leaders against the Citizenship Act, which says that members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
What does the act say?
The bill that seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Billseeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship of India.
Highlights of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act
- Granting nationality to non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries.
- The Citizenship Act, 1955, one of the requirements for citizenship was that the applicant must have resided in India in the last 12 months, as well as for 11 of the previous 14 years.
- Now the amendment relaxes the second requirement — from 11 years to six years.
- Provides that the registration of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders may be cancelled if they violate any law.
