NEW DELHI, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Muslim lawmaker from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi, on Saturday filed a petition in the country's Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) passed by parliament.
Owaisi, the head of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), vociferously opposed the bill in the lower house of parliament during the debate and even tore its pages on the floor of the house.
"AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act," a local news gathering agency quoted Owaisi's lawyer Nizam Pasha as having said.
Owaisi alleged the bill was aimed at making Muslims "stateless" and warned it would lead to another partition in India.
CAB was passed by both houses of Indian parliament -- Lok Sabha (lower house) and Rajya Sabha (upper house) this week. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the new legislation.
The law aims at granting citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to six religions - Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi and Christianity - from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, it has kept out Muslim immigrants from applying for citizenship.
Opposition parties and civil society members in India criticize the bill as contrary to secular principles enshrined in India's constitution as it excludes Muslims.
With this new law, the government would grant Indian citizenship to those non-Muslim immigrants who had entered the country illegally until December 31, 2014.
The new law has triggered countrywide protests, especially in India's northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya. Authorities have imposed curfew in parts of these three states and even suspended mobile internet and text messaging service. People in the northeastern states fear granting of citizenship to immigrants would endanger their status.
The protests have even spread to India's eastern state of West Bengal.
On Thursday evening, two protesters were killed and many others injured after police fired upon protesters in Guwahati city of Assam.
