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SC asks for Centre’s views on plea seeking to declare Emergency as unconstitutional
The court said it will not be disinclined to see whether such a declaration is feasible or desirable after such passage of time
The Supreme Court on Monday sought to know the view of Centre on whether the Emergency, imposed 45 years ago, could be declared unconstitutional due to the passage of time.
A 94-year-old widow, Veera Sarin, has approached the top court with a prayer to declare the 1975 Emergency as unconstitutional, and demanded Rs 25 crore as compensation for the wrongs committed by authorities who detained her husband and caused her family to suffer mental trauma for several years. Sarin’s husband dealt with precious gems and artefacts and all his goods were confiscated but never returned, she said.
The bench of Justices SK Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy said: “We are not convinced that after 45 years we can go into something which happened in a particular period of time.”
Sarin was represented by senior advocate Harish Salve, who argued that wrongs of history should be set right or else they could repeat. He said war crimes during the Holocaust and the second World War were still being looked into by war crime tribunals. He said that while the petitioner may not insist on compensation, she was entitled to a declaration that for 19 months fundamental rights of citizens were put under suspension which should not have happened in a democratic polity governed by a Constitution.
The bench, after holding extensive discussion among themselves, found it hard to agree with Salve. “...We would be disinclined to reopen on such aspects, as there may have been wrongs done but with passage of 45 years, it may not be appropriate to reopen them.”
Salve agreed that he was willing to forgo his prayer for compensation but remained firm on the first prayer. “It is too serious a matter to be left out. People of our generation could not do anything then. This lady has no political agenda. She has suffered and has come to court to seek a final closure on this issue. She would be happy to get a declaration that the Emergency declared was wrong.”
It was then that the court said, “We would, however, not be disinclined to see whether such a declaration (by court) is feasible or desirable after such passage of time.” The court allowed Salve to file an amended writ petition, restructuring it keeping in mind what the court observed. The matter will be heard next on December 18.
Emergency was proclaimed minutes before the midnight of June 25, 1975 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The proclamation was revoked in March 1977.
