Indian SC declares Kashmir as integral part of India

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled in a unanimous verdict that the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) was a temporary provision and upheld the order abrogating Article 370 in the constitution.

According to a British news agency quoting an Indian digital news service, the SC also directed the election commission to hold elections in IIOJK by September 30, 2024.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s current ruling party, had revoked occupied Kashmir’s special status in 2019 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.

The move allowed people from the rest of the country to have the right to acquire property in held Kashmir and settle there permanently.

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 July 11 and reserved its verdict on September 5.

The move was challenged by the region’s pro-India political parties, the local bar association and individual litigants. The pleas, including those filed by the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, had also challenged India-held Kashmir’s bifurcation into two union territories.

On Monday, the CJI read out the operative part of the verdict written by him for himself and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant. 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 2019 declaration was “a culmination of the process of integration and as such is a valid exercise of power”, the court said in its verdict.

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 reports, 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.

The CJI observed that Article 370 was meant for constitutional integration of the region with the union and not for disintegration, and that the president can declare that the said article ceases to exist.

The SC also upheld the reorganisation of Ladakh as a union territory.

The apex court also directed the country’s election commission to take steps to conduct elections for legislative assembly, the digital news service stated.

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”.