The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it will hear the pleas against the Citizenship Amendment Act when violence in the country stops, Livelaw reported.
The comment was made when a lawyer asked for an urgent hearing of a petition that wanted the court to declare the controversial law “constitutional”.
“There is so much of violence,” said a bench led by the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, responding a petitioner, LiveLaw reported. “The nation is facing difficult times...the attempt must be to bring peace...these petitions don’t help the cause.”
The bench added: “How do we declare an Act of the Parliament as being constitutional? There is always a presumption of constitutionality. For the first time, I am hearing of such a prayer. The court has to decide the validity of a law, not declare that a law is constitutional.”
Lakhs of Indians have been protesting against the new citizenship law since it was passed early in December. Critics point out that the legislation discriminates against Muslims.
The Supreme Court’s statement stimulated the creative minds on Twitter, which came up with hilarious analogies.
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this article said that the court had also refused to hear petitions related to violence at Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University. This actually happened last month.
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