UNHCR files intervention on CAA in Supreme Court, MEA says ‘internal matter’

Reacting strongly to the development, the MEA has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter and no foreign party has any locus standi on it.

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The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday stated that India’s Permanent Mission in Geneva was informed on Monday evening that the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court of India over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Reacting strongly to the development, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter and that “no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India's sovereignty.”

“We are clear that the CAA is constitutionally valid and complies with all requirements of our constitutional values. It is reflective of our long-standing national commitment in respect of human rights issues arising from the tragedy of the Partition of India,” a statement from the MEA said.

“We are confident that our sound and legally sustainable position would be vindicated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court,” the statement added.

This comes a day after Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad approached the United Nations requesting an investigation into "serious human rights violations in India".

Azad's letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights comes against the backdrop of large-scale violence in northeast Delhi.

"As I write, 45 people are confirmed dead even as the toll is rising every hour. Men are being mob-lynched and stabbed to death and women and girls are being raped," he wrote in the letter.

"Thousands have been displaced and are fleeing their hometown... the state administration's response to all this has been a failure," he said and alleged that the Delhi Police has remained a "mute spectator".

The Dalit group chief alleged that after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was signed into a law in December, the socio-political situation in the country has been witnessing "new heights of state-sponsored atrocities".

(With PTI inputs)