Supreme Court to Examine Legality of J&K’s Status
The Supreme Court recently reviewed 14 PILs against the abrogation of Jammu Kashmir’s special status. The SC has sent two notices to the centre and will review J&K’s status in October.
If there is an activity going on that may be dangerous to society, any India citizen can file PIL complaint and take the court’s help. 14 people filed PILs regarding the abrogation of Jammu & Kashmirs special status. The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard a total of 14 PIls. These PILs were presented to CJI Rajan Gogoi, SC Judges SA Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer. There were four types of petitions filed in the court.
The petitions were regarding access to missing and unreachable people in the Valley. People were unable to contact their family and friends as there was no mode of communication and people were not allowed to enter J&K. One petition said that Article 370 can not be removed without asking the will of the people. They said that changes in J&K could be made through the state assembly but the Indian government did not follow the proper methods. Their main claim was that the President did not have the power to change what is written in the Constitution. Petitioners have said that the people of J&K were not informed about anything and their fundamental rights were violated.
The Anuradha Bhasin, Editor of Kashmir Times also filed a PIL. SHe said that the media were not given freedom to publish news. This was a violation of fundamental rights as people have a right to know what is happening. They are not allowed to publish newspapers and reporters were not allowed to enter sensitive areas. Another petition said that anti-India groups were trying to instigate trouble in Jammu and Kashmir.Petitioners say this decision of the government is not the true meaning of democracy where the will of the people is of most importance.
After listening to all the petitions, the Supreme Court issued two notices to the government. In one of the notices, the CJI Gogoi has said all petitions regarding Article 370 will be reviewed by five judges of the Supreme Court in October.In the other notice, the SC has asked the government to reply within seven days about the restrictions that have been imposed on the media in J&K.
