Dissent, Democracy & Dark Cloud of Emergency

With watchdogs of democracy weakening, only through a vigilant civil society, respect for diversity and multiculturalism, the spectre of unwritten emergency can be scuttled, writes Satya Narayan Misra

- Satya Narayan Misra

NATIONAL emergency was invoked 50 years back, to counter the enormously popular JP Movement to root out corruption in India’s political system and snuff out life & liberty.

The emergency was rubberstamped by the President under the specious threat of external aggression and internal disturbances in India. Shielded by Article 352, Indira Gandhi embarked upon a drastic program of population control that violated the civil rights of thousands of families and a slum demolition project, which resulted in police killings of protesting residents. This saga of human infringement was carried out by the extra-legal power of her son, Sanjoy. Several political leaders were incarcerated, including journalists, who dared speak against the government. One such journalist was SP Shukla, who was arrested without a warrant. When his wife approached the court for issuing a habeas corpus against the state to have a fair trial of her husband, four judges of the Supreme Court decided in SP Shukla Vs ADM Jabalpur Case (1976), that the right to life and liberty stands suspended during the promulgation of the emergency. The lone dissenter was Justice HR Khanna, who observed, “The constitution and the laws of India don’t permit life and liberty to be at the mercy of the absolute power of the executive. What is at stake is the rule of law. “He further averred that detention without trial is an anathema to all those who love personal liberty.”

The Importance of Dissent