The Indian Union Muslim League challenged the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Supreme Court on Thursday, saying it violates the fundamental right to equality enshrined in the Constitution and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion on the basis of religion.

The bill, which proposes to give Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, has been cleared in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and is awaiting presidential assent.

The plea, filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap, seeks an interim stay on the operation of the CAB, the Foreigners Amendment (Order), 2015, and the Passport (Entry Into India) Amendment Rules, 2015.

The petition alleged that the CAB was against the basic structure of the Constitution and intended to explicitly discriminate against Muslims as the bill extended benefits only to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.

“The petitioners do not have any grievances in granting citizenship to migrants but the petitioners’ grievances are directed against discrimination and unreasonable classification based on religion.

“It is submitted that illegal migrants are a class by itself and therefore any law which is applicable to them should be irrespective of any religion, cast or nationality,” the plea said.

The government has given no explanation on the bill excluding minorities like Ahmadiyyas, Shias and the Hazaras who have a long history of persecution in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the IUML alleged.

“The Act (bill) does not prescribe any standard principle or norm behind choosing the… three neighbouring countries, whereby it does not extend the benefit to religious minorities belonging to other neighbouring counties such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.

“The classification of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh is not founded on rationale principle to justify a separate special treatment for the religious minorities facing persecution on the basis of religion,” the petition said.

According to the IUML, the CAB will ensure that illegal Muslim migrants excluded after the NRC exercise are prosecuted, while Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians are given the benefit of naturalisation as Indian citizens.

“Therefore all those Muslims who have been excluded in such a pan-India NRC exercise shall have to prove their citizenship before the foreigners tribunals, all because they are Muslims and not Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.

“This blatant discrimination put into legislation… is not only unconstitutional but also inhumane and opposed to the very idea of our nation,” the plea said.