CONSTITUTIONALITY OF DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY 1975
On 25th June 1975 emergency was declared by Former PM Indira Gandhi u/d the Presidency of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, whereby the period of ‘black chapter’ of India’s history had begun. It was the second time when due to the governmental affair the people of India had lost their freedom/ independence (first when the British ruled). At the time when the proclamation signed by the President of India, the goal of the 21-month long Emergency in the country to control the ‘internal disturbance’ whereby the constitutional rights including freedom of speech and expression were suspended and withdrawn.
There
were 3 main grounds as per Former PM Indira Gandhi on which the emergency was proclaimed are as follows:
1. Security
and democracy of India was in danger owing to the movement started by
Jayaprakash Narayan.
2. There
was a need for rapid economic development and upliftment of the underprivileged.
3. There
was an intervention of foreign nations which could reasonably destabilize and
weaken India.
But
the main grounds which the Former PM Indira Gandhi could not handle were
growing unemployment, rampant inflation, and scarcity of food. The unwanted
condition of the Indian economy together with widespread riots and protest against Gandhi’s government (GG) and trouble started in Gujarat, spread to Bihar
and other Northern states raging against GG. With all this, a petition against
the Former PM Indira Gandhi in Allahabad High Court regarding election came to
the doorstep of her.
The
4 main occurrence of the 1970s for which Indira Gandhi declared emergency:
1. Navnirman
Andolan
A protest started in Gujarat by the students of LD Engineering College, Ahmedabad
who went on strike to protest against the hike in school fees. It after a
month the student protest in Gujarat University got erupted as the protest was
joined by factory workers, demanding the dismissal of the state govt. under the
leadership of the notorious head, Chimanbhai Patel AKA chiman chor, resulting
in the suspension of L. Assembly and the president rule was imposed.
“ The last act of Gujarat drama was played in March 1975 when faced with continuing
agitation and fast unto death by Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi dissolved the
assembly and announced the fresh election to it in June”[i].
2. The
JP movement
Inspired
by the success of Gujarat, in March 1974 a student protest erupted in Bihar to
which opposition forces lent their strength. The movement was headed by 71-year-old freedom fighter Jayaprakash Narayan,
popularly called JP. JP movement was noteworthy in determining Indira Gandhi to
declare an emergency. The movement changed its name from the Bihar movement to JP
movement. He was the one who motivated students to boycott the classes, it also
leads to clashes with police, courts, schools, colleges, and offices which made
them shut down. A ‘total revolution’ movement was called by him in 1974
adjoining by the students, traders, factory workers, etc., from Northern India and
other opposition parties of the state were able to pull down the Congress
govt. JP movement was denounced by
Indira Gandhi as extra-parliamentary movement and challenged him in 1976
election. JP formed National Coordination Committee and soon emergency was
imposed.
3. The
railway's protest
The country was paralyzed by the 3-week strike in May 1974 led by socialist George
Fernandes, resulted in the halt of the
movement of goods and people. In the strike as many as a million railwaymen
participated in the movement. “There were militant demonstrations in many towns
and cities- in numerous places, the army was called out to maintain the peace,”[ii].
Gandhi’s government came down heavily on the protesters. Thousands of employees
were arrested and their families were thrown out of their quarters. The protest
also resulted in the detention and looting of many business families by the
government. The businesses were shut down, assets and valuables including
immovable property were seized by the government inappropriately, with pressure
hundreds of them died.
4. The
Raj Narain Verdict
A
new threat emerged against Indira Gandhi, when a petition was filed against her
by a social activist Raj Narain in Allahabad High Court who lost out to Indira
Gandhi in Raebareli parliamentary election of 1971. The charges against were of
corrupt practices in the election and using of pre-inked party named ballot
(defiance). On 12 June 1975, Justice
Sinha of Allahabad High Court held in the judgment in the declaring Indira Gandhi’s
election to Parliament as null and void. After 3 days she became the first
Indian PM to testify in court. The appeal filed in the Supreme Court, where a
conditional stay was put whereby she can attend the parliament but can’t vote
unless the court pronounced on her appeal. The judgment gave imputes to JP movement
convincing them for resignation of PM Indira Gandhi. A day after the SC
pronounced judgment against her, she proclaimed the ordinance of internal
Emergency and the President signed immediately.
The reason given in an interview with journalist Jonathan
Dimbleby in 1978[iii]
for an emergency was the potential threat to security to India, but the real truth
was the potential threat was to her security and her future career in politics.
With all the tactics she can use, to save her position as PM.
What
happened at the time of emergency, which is being challenged by a 94-year-old
widowed in Supreme Court after 45 years to declare it unconstitutional?
As
above stated the emergency was declared on the above 4 occurrences by PM Indira
Gandhi to have control over the internal aggression generated by her own acts
leading to the unwanted results, based on some of the major activity during an emergency. Under Art. 352 of COI the President of India proclaimed emergency on
25th June 1975 with an order promulgating the emergency was
published in the Gazette of India- Extraordinary on 26th June 1975.
The rights were suspended guaranteed u/d Part III of COI by virtue of Art. 358.
Right to move to the SC u/d Art. 32 were also suspended. Whereby no person can
move to the SC seeking direction for the inequality and difficulty faced. The
Gandhi govt. inappropriately plundered and forcefully confiscated the immovable
property of many families amounted crores of rupees, imprisoning the people for
no substantial cause, also plundered movable property including jewelry,
artifacts, figurines, painting, sculptures and other valuable. By the time the
emergency was revoked many people had died due to the pressure of the GG or had
to leave the country for the difficulty faced. The below case is filed by Veera
Sarin the petitioner u/d Art. 32 of COI, one of the victims of the Emergency of
1975.
A petition filed by a 94-year-old widowed in Supreme Court seeking the
declaration of Emergency 1975 to be declared unconstitutional and for the
compensation of Rs. 25 crores referring to the judgment of 2017 of KS
Puttaswamy (Ret) v. UOI[iv]
which overruled the decision of 5 Judge bench in ADM Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant
Shukla, where it was held that the end of the darkest chapter of Indian
democracy is yet to bring closure to the petitioner who had faced difficulties
at the hands of those in power during an Emergency.
The
injustice is faced by the people of India is similar to that injury faced by
the atom bomb victim of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The situation
deteriorated after her relatives and friends left them in a lurch. The act of
emergencies resonates her mentally with psychological pain which can be put to
peace by declaring the Proclamation of Emergency unconstitutional[v].
The case is filed seeking justice and compensation for lifetime misery and
suffering spent due to atrocities faced by her. The plea is filed against the
govt. who ruled at that point of time and not the current govt. on the grounds
that her husband was detained on baseless orders whereby they had to escape the
country due to the govt.’s organized looting and plundering of business and
homes of the victims.
The case was filed for the recovery of the stolen valuables impounded from her
husband worth crores of rupees in Delhi High Court in 2014; however which was
dismissed by ending the proceeding. Her husband HK Sarin had flourishing
business of art and gem in Karol Bagh and Connaught Place of jewellery,
artefacts and valuables, which was closed because of the emergency imposed in
1975 and raids conducted and the items were seized during that time in the account
of “suspected violation” of the Customs Act, which was not returned and
the violation was not proved even after the emergency was revoked.
The
plea is likely to be heard on 7th December 2020, before the bench headed
by Justice SK Kaul. The question before the court is, Who is liable to repay
for the restitution to put an end to the enduring trauma if the emergency is
declared unconstitutional?
Kaushal Modi (Intern at Advicebiz)
[i] Bipin
Chandra, ‘India since Independence’
[ii] Ramchandra
Guha, Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World
[iii] http://indianexpress.com/article/research/four-reasons-why-indira-gandhi-declared-the-emergency-5232397/
[iv] (2019) 1 SCC 1
[v] https://www.opindia.com/2020/12/94-years-old-widow-moves-sc-to-declare-emergency-as-unconstitutional/
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