In a major move, notable  lawyers of the Supreme Court on 14 January, 2020 carried out a protest against the much debated Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Register of Citizens (NRC), National Population Register (NPR) and police brutality. They marched from the Supreme Court to Jantar Mantar.

The march was conducted under a banner titled “Lawyers for Democracy”, with the aim to register protest against police repression and the “assault of the Constitution”. Senior Advocates Raju Ramachandran, Ashwani Kumar, Salman Khursheed and Sanjay Hegde took part in the protest by exercising their right to freedom of expression.

"We chanted slogans against the Delhi police for their double standard in the Jamia University and JNU. Police took action against students in Jamia whereas they remained mute spectators during JNU violence," one of the protesting lawyers said.

The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) has appealed to Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, Chief Justice of India, asking him to take sou moto cognizance of police brutalities in various states against peaceful protesters during the current CAA/NRC demonstrations. 

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 has been a cause for which debate and protests in the country, with people trying to get a grasp of the matter. It has been dubbed as unconstitutional on the grounds of it not clearing the test of arbitrariness as set by Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1949.

Author: Nandini Gandhi