UNHRC To File Intervention Plea In Supreme Court Over CAA

New Delhi: The United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) High Commissioner Informed Government of India that The UN body would be filing an intervention application in the Supreme Court over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). While the UNHRC recognises the fact that CAA is a law enacted by both houses of the Indian Parliament, the UN body is concerned with the impact it would have on citizens across the border. The Ministry of external affairs is said to have informed the UNHRC that CAA is an internal issue.

The UNHRC is in all likelihood concerned only with protecting the rights of those it feels would be impacted by the CAA. Legal experts say that the UN body filing an intervention application over CAA would mean that it would be treated as an NGO. However, since the matter relates to a law enacted by the parliament there is no role in the matter before the Supreme Court for the UNHRC.

A three judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Justice SA Bobde is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of CAA. The Supreme Court will decide on the issue of allowing the Intervention Application filed by UNHRC.

The contentious CAA has been at the core of protests across the country including the Shaheen Bagh demonstration in Delhi. It is also linked to multiple incidents of violence which rocked Delhi last week resulting in the deaths of 46 people and injuries to over 300 others.