Top court refuses urgent hearing

Chief Justice of India S A Bobde yesterday observed that the country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence going on as the Supreme Court refused urgent hearing on a plea seeking to declare the Citizenship Amendment Act as constitutional.

A bench headed by CJI Bobde expressed surprise over the petition and said this is the first time that someone is seeking that an Act be declared as constitutional.

"There is so much of violence going on. The country is going through difficult times and the endeavour should be for peace... This court's job is to determine validity of a law and not declare it as constitutional," the CJI said.

The bench also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant said it will hear the petitions challenging validity of CAA when the violence stops.

The observation came after advocate Vineet Dhanda sought urgent listing of his plea to declare CAA as constitutional and a direction to all states for implementation of the Act.

The plea has also sought action against activists, students and media houses for "spreading rumours".

The law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.