India’s top court upholds end of special status for held Kashmir, orders polls
11 December 2023
Published in: DAWN
India’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled in a unanimous verdict that the special status of held Kashmir was a temporary provision and upheld the order abrogating Article 370 in the constitution.
In August 2019, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had revoked occupied Kashmir’s special status by repealing Article 370 of the constitution. The law had limited the power of the Indian parliament to impose laws in the state, apart from matters of defence, foreign affairs and communications.
Kashmiris, international organisations and critics of India’s Hindu nationalist-led government had termed the move an attempt to dilute the demographics of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu settlers.
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud had begun hearing the set of petitions challenging the reading down of Article 370 of the Indian constitution on on July 11 and reserved its verdict on September 5.
Today, CJI read out the operative part of the verdict written by him for himself and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant, TOI reported. Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna wrote separate but concurrent judgments.
CJI Chandrachud observed the petitioners’ contention that the centre could not take any decision during proclamation under Article 356 was not acceptable, TOI said.
“Article 370 of the Constitution was an interim arrangement due to war conditions in state. Constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was never intended to be permanent body,” CJI Chandrachud was quoted as saying.
The Indian apex court said occupied Kashmir did not retain the element of sovereignty after joining India. It further said it did not need to adjudicate on the validity of the presidential proclamation in the region as the petitioners had not challenged it.
According to the report, the ruling also termed petitioners’ arguments that the union government cannot take actions of irreversible consequences in the state during presidential rule as unacceptable.
Noting that Article 370 was a temporary provision, the SC said India-held Kashmir became an “integral part” of the country as reflected in Articles 1 and 370 of its constitution.
It ordered that India-held Kashmir be restored to the same statehood as any other Indian state — with no separate autonomy rights — “at the earliest and as soon as possible”.
Remarking that the people of occupied Kashmir “went through a lot and wounds need healing”, Justice Kaul directed that a truth and reconciliation commission be set up to probe human rights violations by state and non-state actors since the 1980s, the report said.
Reacting to the order, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the verdict a “beacon of hope” and said it “constitutionally upholds the decision taken by the Parliament of India on Aug 5, 2019”.