ISLAMABAD, March 4 (APP):As death toll in the anti-Muslim clashes in India rose to an alarming level with 75 killed and hundreds injured following the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the international human rights watchdog has stepped in to seek intervention of the Indian Supreme Court to stop discrimination against the minorities.
The petition by the United Nations Human Rights Council came amid ongoing protests in India against the CAA, which was enacted in December last year. The protests took a turn for the worst last week in New Delhi, where 47 people were killed in the communal violence.
“The plea by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has asked the court to make the UN agency a party in the case against the CAA that is being heard by it,” the Gulf News reported quoting the NDTV.
According to Al-Jazeera, the violent clashes killed more than 75 people and injured over 350 across India. In New Delhi alone at least 47 people were killed and more than 100 wounded last week as groups of extremist Hindus chanting nationalist slogans torched mosques and dozens of Muslim houses.
The Muslims, who form nearly 15 percent of India’s 1.3 billion population, fear the citizenship law is aimed at marginalising them.
Nearly 140 petitions have been filed by Muslim groups, opposition parties and activists, who say the law violates India’s secular constitution. The top Indian court is due to hear the pleas next week.
Academic and legal expert Faizan Mustafa told Al-Jazeera that the Supreme Court might end up hearing the UNHRC application.
“As a UN member, we are bound by our pledge under Article 56 of the UN Charter to uphold fundamental freedoms of all people. We cannot discriminate on the basis of religion,” he said, adding the UNHRC move might “damage India’s reputation”.
Many Muslims have abandoned their homes in the areas hit by the violence and taken refuge in shelters set up by voluntary relief workers or moved to their relatives’ houses.
The violence took place after a series of hate speeches were made by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, some of whom warned the Muslims to wind up peaceful sit-ins or face consequences.
Videos shared on social media showed the Delhi Police officials forcing injured Muslim men to sing the national anthem, and in some cases, smashing CCTV cameras in the violence-affected areas.
Unfazed by criticism, India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month said his government stood by its CAA decision “despite all the pressure”.
