CAA discriminatory law, violates right to equality: Amnesty India

New Delhi: Calling the Citizenship Amendment Act a discriminatory law that goes against the constitutional values of equality and international human rights, Amnesty India said the legislation stands in violation of the right to equality.

The Centre on Monday announced the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, paving the way for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The rules were notified days ahead of the expected announcement of the Lok Sabha elections. With this, the Narendra Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three countries.

Following the notification, Amnesty India hit out at the government in a series of posts on X.

"The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is a discriminatory law that goes against the constitutional values of equality and international human rights law. The notification of the rules issued by the (Union) Ministry of Home Affairs will make this divisive law operational from today," it said.

The human rights body said CAA stands in violation of the right to equality before the law and right to non-discrimination, as guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

"The government in 2019 responded to peaceful anti-CAA protests with arbitrary detention under draconian laws and excessive force. We urge the authorities to respect the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful association and assembly while responding to peaceful protests," Amnesty India said in another post.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the president's assent but there were protests in several parts of the country against it. Many opposition parties spoke out against the law, calling it "discriminatory".

The law could not come into effect as the rules had not been notified till now.