Asaduddin Owaisi moves Supreme Court against citizenship bill

New Delhi, Dec 14: AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Owaisi had stirred up a controversy when he tore a copy of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha, saying that the Bill tries to divide the country.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Owaisi said he was called Mahatma after he tore the discriminatory citizenship card in South Africa, and the Hyderabad MP then ripped the copy of the bill to highlight his protest, inviting sharp reactions from the treasury benches which described his act an "insult" to Parliament.

The is an insult to India's freedom-fighters, he said, accusing the BJP-led government of working to marginalise Muslims in the country.

The new act provides citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who faced religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill became law after receiving the President's assent earlier this week following a debate in the Parliament.

More than a dozen petitions challenging the legality of Act have already been filed in the apex court. The petitioners include Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, two NGOs, Uttar Pradesh's Peace Party, among others.

The top court is likely to hear the petitions on December 18.