Citizenship Act 'internal matter', says India as UN body files intervention application in SC

New Delhi, Mar 03: The UN human rights body has moved the Supreme Court in connection with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), triggering a sharp reply from New Delhi saying that no foreign party has any standing on issues pertaining to India's sovereignty

The plea asks the court to make the UNHRC a party in the case against the CAA that is being heard by the top court.

Reportedly, India's permanent mission in Geneva was informed on Monday evening by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, about the intervention application.

"The CAA is an internal matter of India and concerns the sovereign right of the Indian Parliament to make laws. We strongly believe that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India's sovereignty," said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.

"We are clear that the CAA is constitutionally valid and complies with all requirements of our constitutional values. It is reflective of our long standing national commitment in respect of human rights issues arising from the tragedy of the Partition of India," he added.

"We all have utmost respect for and full trust in our independent judiciary. We are confident that our sound and legally sustainable position would be vindicated by the Supreme Court," he further said.

The United Nations had expressed its concern over a law that was "fundamentally discriminatory in nature".

A spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the amendments to a 1955 law would "have a discriminatory effect on people's access to nationality".

The CAA has sparked widespread protests across the country, with Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area becoming the epicentre of all protests.

The law says non-Muslim minorities from Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan can become citizens if they fled religious persecution and entered India before December 31, 2014.