Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde on Thursday slammed a plea defending the constitutionality of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) saying that the “country is going through difficult times” and “such petitions don’t help”.

A lawyer had filed a plea defending the constitutionality of CAA and seeking action against activists, students, media houses spreading “false rumours” about the Act.

On this, CJI Bobde said that “during such difficult times, the endeavour should be for peace” and added that such pleas don’t help.

The CJI’s remarks come amid massive and violent protests that have erupted across the country with demonstrators, especially students taking to the streets including that of the national capital calling for the withdrawal of the controversial law.

On being asked to declare CAA ‘constitutional’, the CJI said: “How can we declare that an Act passed by the Parliament is constitutional? There is always a presumption of constitutionality. If you had been a student of law at some point time, you should know.”

“This court’s job is to determine the validity of a law and not declare it as constitutional,” the bench also comprising justice BR Gavai and Surya Kant said.

The observation came as advocate Vineet Dhanda, appearing for a Mumbai resident Puneet Kaur Dhanda, sought urgent listing of his plea to declare the Citizenship Amendment Act constitutional and a direction to all states for the implementation of the law.

“The petitioner is filing the present public interest litigation as a concerned citizen over the loss of precious lives and damage to public property across the country, especially in the cities of Delhi and Ahmedabad, and states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Assam and other parts of our country,” Dhanda had said in his plea.

The plea also sought action against the media houses involved in spreading false information and fuelling rumours.

The Supreme Court bench further said that it will hear the petitions challenging the validity of CAA when violence stops.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice SA Bobde and justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant had earlier refused to grant a stay on the operation of the law.

The apex court will take up the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the controversial law on January 22.

Protests have erupted across the nation with violence and arson emerging from different parts of Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and the northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Manipur.

Campus protests have gained massive support across the nation after Delhi Police tear-gassed students of Jamia Millia Islamia University on the night of December 15 without any permission from the campus authorities.

According to the amended law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

The opposition parties have termed the legislation as “unconstitutional” which “is aimed at diverting attention from the burning issues of the common people”.