CAA rules likely to be notified on Monday
New Delhi, Mar 11: The rules for implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) are likely to be notified on Monday to facilitate the granting of citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, according to sources.
Once the CAA rules are issued, the Modi government will start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- who had come to India till December 31, 2014.
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. Over a hundred people lost their lives during the anti-CAA protests or police action.
The law could not come into effect so far as rules have to be notified for its implementation.
According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should be framed within six months of presidential assent or the government has to seek an extension from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Since 2020, the Home Ministry has been taking extensions at regular intervals from the parliamentary committee for framing the rules.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has readied a portal for the convenience of the applicants as the entire process will be online. The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents.
No document will be sought from the applicants, an official said.
On December 27, 2023, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land and accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people on the issue.
Addressing a party meeting in Kolkata, Shah said it is the BJP's commitment to implement the CAA.
The TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee, has been opposing the CAA since the beginning.
The promise of implementing the controversial CAA was a major poll plank of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in West Bengal.
The saffron party's leaders consider it a plausible factor that led to the rise of the BJP in Bengal.
Meanwhile, in the last two years, over 30 District Magistrates and Home Secretaries of nine states have been given powers to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
According to the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs for 2021-22, from April 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, a total of 1,414 foreigners belonging to these non-Muslim minority communities from the three countries were given Indian citizenship by registration or naturalization under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
The nine states where Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation is given under the Citizenship Act, 1955 to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra.
Interestingly, authorities of none of the districts of Assam and West Bengal, where the issue is politically very sensitive, have been given the powers so far.
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Businessman lured by FB friend, attacked for extortion in K'taka; 4 held
Madikeri (Karnataka) (PTI): Four people were arrested for allegedly assaulting, illegally confining and attempting to extort money from a 39-year-old businessman who was lured through a honeytrap set up on social media, police said on Monday.
The accused have been identified as Rachana, Malati, Darshan and Ravi.
Police said efforts are underway to nab the remaining suspects involved in the incident, which occurred on December 12 in Madikeri, the district headquarters of Kodagu.
According to the complaint, the victim, a resident of Maddur taluk in Mandya district, was befriended by a woman identified as Rachana through Facebook, who later sought financial assistance and received Rs 5,000 from him via PhonePe on November 28.
When he asked her to return the money, the woman allegedly asked him to travel to Mysuru or Kushalnagar, promising to meet him.
The police said the woman later called the victim to Madikeri on December 12 and took him to a house near the market area, where they spent some time and consumed alcohol in the evening.
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Later that night, citing an emergency, the woman left the house. After her departure, three men allegedly broke into the house and attacked the victim, assaulting him with a stick and the handle of a sword, causing injuries to his face, mouth, chest and leg, the FIR stated.
The complainant alleged that he was forcibly confined, stripped and a nude video of him was recorded. The accused also allegedly threatened him with a toy gun, demanding Rs 50 lakh and warning that the video would be uploaded on social media if the money was not paid.
Police said the victim was held captive and somehow managed to escape in the early hours of December 13. However, after he escaped, the accused allegedly attempted to kidnap him in an autorickshaw, an incident that was captured on CCTV cameras.
Based on his complaint at the Madikeri Town police station, a case was registered under Sections 310(2) (dacoity), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a senior police officer said.
“Four accused, including two women, have been arrested. Efforts are on to nab two more absconding accused. Further investigation is on,” he added.
