MPs question in the Rajya Sabha how the government will ascertain whether the person applying for citizenship actually faced ‘religious persecution’.

NEW DELHI:  While the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019,  has become a reality for all practical purposes, work will be cut out for the Union Home Ministry in sketching out the finer points before 
implementing the law. The most important part of which may be identifying whether those who apply for Indian citizenship under the criteria laid out in the CAB really were persecuted due to their faith. It is unclear at the moment whether the Home Ministry will accept self-attested affidavits to this end or will work in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to verify the claims of the refugees who apply for Indian citizenship.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said it would be difficult to prove “religious persecution”, which the government has made the ground for granting citizenship.  While opposing the Bill in the Upper House, Congress MP from Assam Ripun Bora cited a statement made by the Intelligence Bureau director while deposing before a joint parliamentary committee that it was “not possible to verify that persons have come to the country due to religious persecution”. 

Bora also said that the CAB may pose serious security concerns for the country. He quoted a statement of a senior R&AW official made before the expert committee which scrutinised the Bill. There are no official figures other than records furnished by the Intelligence Bureau before the JPC saying there are 31,313 people belonging to the six minority minority communities living in India on Long Term Visa. 

Bora also questioned lack of any official statistics to substantiate the purpose of the Bill. “In his speech, the home minister said crores and of people who were religiously persecuted have come and they have not been able to get citizenship.

Where are the crores of people? When did I ask the government how many such religiously persecuted people have applied for citizenship? The reply I got was 4,044 applications. When I asked for countrywide break, I was told from Aghanistan 687, from Bangladesh 84 and from Pakistan 2,508. When I asked for religious wise-break up, they said record not maintained. If you do not have data, on what basis are you going to give citizenship to these people?” the MP questioned. 

Here’s what Congress leaders said

Anand Sharma: If Sardar Patel meets your prime minister, then he would be very angry…Gandhi ji would also be sad saying, ‘you are celebrating my 150th birth anniversary and then you do this’

P Chidambaram: This (bill) is a slap in the face of Parliament. …I am afraid this government is ramming through (with) this bill in order to advance its Hindutva agenda…This is a sad day.

Sonia Gandhi: Today marks a dark day in the constitutional history of India. The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill marks the victory of narrow-minded and bigoted forces over India’s pluralism

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s house which is located at Dibrugarh in Upper Assam came under attack yesterday night as protestors pelted stones at his house.

GUWAHATI: As Assam burns with anti CAB protests, RSS and BJP leaders from the state including Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal are being rigorously criticised.

The protesters attacked the house of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union minister Rameswar Teli and several other BJP leaders.

Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal’s house which is located at Dibrugarh in Upper Assam came under attack yesterday night as protestors pelted stones at his house.

While Union Minister Rameshwar Teli’s residence in Dulijan also came under rage of protestors.

A BJP MLA Prashanta Phukan’s house in the Upper Assam was vandalised by the protestors.

There are also reports that in many places RSS office has also been attacked.

Thousands of people hit the streets in Assam opposing the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill or CAB, that seeks to grant Indian citizenship to illegal non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Bill was cleared by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and will become law after getting nod from the President.

However, people of northeastern states, especially Assam and Tripura are demanding its revocation as they fear being “overrun” by non-Muslims from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The protesters clashed with the police and set afire several government vehicles. They also pelted stones at the houses of several BJP leaders.

It is being said that the magnitude of the protests is similar to the violent six-year movement that resulted in the signing of the Assam accord in 1985.

New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the opposition of speaking Pakistan’s language on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and asserted that the legislation will be written in “golden letters” in history.

Addressing BJP parliamentary party meeting, Modi likened the bill to the government’s decision to nullify Article 370 and said it will provide permanent relief to minorities of neighbouring countries who arrived in India fleeing religious persecution.

He also asked party MPs to gather feedback from all sections of society from farmers to the poor and industrialists on the coming Union budget and share the inputs with the Finance Minister.

Nagpur: A 22-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide on Monday in Nagpur after failing to clear an exam for a government job, police said.

Pournima Sangore had a degree in nursing from a college in neighbouring Chandrapur and had appeared for an examination conducted by Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) on December 1, said Inspector Sivram Kumre of Ganeshpeth police station.

“While she could not clear the exam, two of her roommates managed to do so. They had noticed that Pournima was depressed over this and were counseling her. On Monday, when the two had gone to work, Pournima hanged herself,” he added.

He said no suicide note was recovered and statements of the roommates were being taken as part of the probe. 

New Delhi:  Citing the rape and murder of a 27-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad and the killing of the accused in police encounter, former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha on Tuesday said the country is struggling to protect human rights of citizens and such crimes reflect the “deep malice” that has crept in the society.

“Are we heading towards a society of lawlessness,” Justice (retd) Lodha said, while lamenting that criminals are not afraid of committing heinous crimes such as rape and murder and “sadder” is the killing of the four accused in the police ‘encounter’.

Supreme Court judge Justice D Y Chandrachud said that the Unnao rape survivor lying burnt and the dead bodies of four accused in the Hyderabad gangrape and murder case were the two “most telling pictorial representation of the two facets of India”.

Both of them were speaking at an event to mark Human Rights Day organised by International Institute of Human Rights here.

“While we are celebrating Human Rights Day, the fact of the matter is that we are struggling in protection of human rights. The case in point is the Hyderabad rape and murder of a 27-year-old veterinarian and the killing of the accused in police encounter,” Justice (retd) Lodha said.

“That the crime of rape and murder are happening everyday in one part of the country or other reflect the deep malice that has crept in the society. The criminals are not afraid of committing such heinous crimes. Sadder is the killing of the four accused in the police encounter. Are we heading towards a society of lawlessness?,” the former CJI said.

Referring to a statement by a Telangana minister that re-construction of crime scene in the Hyderabad gangrape and murder case was on instructions from above, he said it raises a big question as to whether we are “junking the due process and justice”.

He said that demand of such treatment by people to Unnao rape and murder case accused shows that the atmosphere of “mob mentality” is prevailing in society and people are going back to 17th century where it was “an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, nail for nail”.

Justice Chandrachud said, “We must ask ourselves whether close to a century of democratic rule has reduced the political, social and economic exclusion faced by many of our citizens.

“I think the most telling pictorial representation that we have seen last week is the representation of the two facets of India, the Unnao rape survivor lying burnt in the field and the four men lying dead in a field shot by the police”.

“Public deliberation will always be especially threatening to those who achieve power in its absence….

“It is just a reminder that we will not wait to be shocked by a terrifying take of human rights abuse but rather scrutinise the actions of those in power everyday to ensure that such abuses never occur in the first place. And that would be my long term answer to those visual images,” Justice Chandrachud said, while delivering lecture on the topic ‘Adding Nuance to Human Rights Discourse’.

Justice (retd) Lodha did not mince words as he spoke of the state of women safety in the country and said that 92 per cent of Nirbhaya fund created in 2013, which was meant to be utilised for improvement of safety of women, has remained unspent by state governments.

“The fact of the matter is that there is no effective working of schemes such as cyber crime against women and children and emergency response support system. These projects largely remain on paper. It is no surprise that crimes against women and children remain unabated. Blame game should stop,” he said.

It is time to completely strive for improving the systems and strengthening the institutions. The situation is grim as women and children are placed in insecure environment, Lodha said.

He said the prosecution was lax, adjournments in criminal cases are “given at the drop of hat” and the criminal justice system could not be expected to improve when the government spends just “0.08 per cent of GDP on judiciary”.

“Poor budgeting has led to capacity constraints in the judicial system. Judicial vacancies are not filled in time. At any given point of time 30 to 40 per cent vacancies in subordinate judiciary are always remaining,” he said.

Police and prison reforms should be high priority matter for the government. There is a complete lack of infrastructure for scientific investigation, Justice (retd) Lodha said.

He pointed out that there are only seven scientific forensic laboratories in the country due to which in large number of cases the forensic investigation of crime is not completed expeditiously due to non-availability of forensic experts.

“The insufficient number of forensic laboratories in the country results in an enormous backlog of forensic work and delayed investigation,” Justice (retd) Lodha said.

Justice Chandrachud gave reference of Aarey tree felling incident and said that deliberative democracy and courts together can lead to the protection of human rights.

“As a resident of Mumbai, I know just how dangerous and often impossible it can be to get from one end of the city to another during rush hours.

“The need for a safe and affordable public transport system is undoubtedly urgent.

“Yet at the same time an approach that ignores the environmental impact of development is unconscionable in a world where we see the dangerous effects of climate change,” he said.

In dissolving such competing rights, “we can see how deliberative democracy and the courts together can lead to the protection of human rights,” he said.

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said that CAB was an attempt to divide the country.

HYDERABAD:  Shiv Sena’s support to the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Parliament has not gone down well with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who on Tuesday described Shiv Sena’s apparent reversal in stance on CAB as ‘bhangra politics’. “This is bhangra politics. It is politics of opportunism,” Owaisi said while speaking to media persons. 

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said that CAB was an attempt to divide the country. However, his party backed BJP on Bill. Now, it plans to take a sharp U-turn in RS, with Thackeray saying that his MPs would back the contentious law only if the government accepted its suggestion to hold back voting rights for brand-new citizens for 25 years.

Meanwhile, Owaisi also claimed that the government was bringing Mohammad Ali Jinnah alive with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Owaisi said that even if the bill is passed by Parliament, he will “knock on all doors” in the country and keep his point of view in front of the people.