In a major development, the Supreme Court of India will hear petitions against the abrogation of Article 370 on July 11.
A five-member bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B R Gavai, and Justice Surya Kant has been constituted to hear the case.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday requested the CJI for an early hearing of a batch of petitions challenging the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019.
“We want to invite the attention of the CJI to the petitions which are pending in the Supreme Court for the last four years and also towards the plight of … people, especially the youth who are in jails within and outside J-K without any trial,” Mehbooba told reporters here.
A brief history about Article 370
Up until 2019, Jammu and Kashmir had enjoyed Article 370 which provides special status in terms of autonomy and its ability to formulate laws for the state’s permanent residents.
However, on August 2019, when Narendra Modi was re-elected for the second term as the Prime Minister of India, his government decided to revoke the article causing an uproar amongst the Valley’s political environment as well as local residents.
The decision fulfilled one of the promises in BJP’s 2014 election manifestos.
While BJP members termed the decision as ‘historic’, opposition parties took a strong stand against it by defining it as a “catastrophic step” and “a black day for democracy”.
The decision did not end well with regional political figures of the Valley with PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu & Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, both former chief ministers, kept under house arrest by the Union Government.
Many took to the streets to revolt against the decision. Section 144 was imposed and the internet was shut down for months.
