N. Santosh Hegde, former Lokayukta, on Saturday expressed concern over the passage of amended Citizenship Act by excluding one religion in particular.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the act should grant citizenship to a person irrespective of religion. But the Act has confined this benefit only to some religions keeping one religion out of its purview. The Act should not have discriminated based on the religion and citizenship should have been granted to the person who had been meted out injustice, he felt.
He asked the Centre to take note of the violent protests being reported from various States in the North East and other parts of the country protesting against the passage of the Act.
Referring to the law passed in Andhra Pradesh that promises capital punishment to the guilty in offences against women within 21 days of the crime, he said it was not possible to complete trials within 21 days. “It is not possible to bring all the evidence to court within the timeframe. There are certain limitations and investigations that have to be completed,” he said.
Earlier, speaking at the inauguration of 8th State-level conference of the All India Lawyers’ Union conference, Justice Hegde spoke about corruption and how scams in the past deprived the country of development. AILU national president Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya inaugurated the two-day conference.
