PIL filed against three Govt notices, including ‘Passport Act’ and ‘Foreigners Act’

Guwahati, February 27, 2019:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday has accepted the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against three government notices by Forum against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill in relation to citizenship laws in the estate of Assam.

The PIL has been filed by the Forum’s Chief Hiren Gohain, Haren Deka and senior journalist Manjit Mahanta.

The Central Government has been given a deadline of six weeks to reply to this matter by the country’s apex court.

Speaking to InsideNE, Manjit Mahanta said, “We file the PIL against Centre government’s three notices issued in 2015 i.e. one- ‘Passport Entry into India Act’ and second ‘Foreigners Act’ which says the people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who have been harassed based on religious prosecution will be given citizenship and they will not be treated as illegal migrants. There is no mention of Muslim, Hindu or other religion. This we claim as unconstitutional and thus, it cannot be considered. The third notice was issued last year that authorised the District Collectors of 16 districts to complete the formalities related to the process of giving citizenship to these illegal migrants other than Assam. This is a clear violation of the Indian Constitution.”

“A person, who does not possess any passport or any other legal document, cannot be approved as a citizen of the country. So the PIL has been filed challenging the three notices which have been accepted by the SC,” he added.