Hope Supreme Court safeguards Constitution and law: Mehbooba on Article 370 case hearing

Srinagar, Jul 12 (PTI) PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday expressed hope that the Supreme Court would safeguard the Constitution and the law of the country while deciding on the Article 370 petitions.

The former J-K chief minister, however, raised apprehensions over the listing of the hearing dates for the case immediately after Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice D Y Chandrachud and Supreme Court judges visited Kashmir for the ’19th All India Legal Services Authorities’ meeting last month.

“”There was no hearing for the last four years when so many cases with no emergency were heard. So hearing the case immediately after the Kashmir visit and deciding that it would take place daily after August 2, somewhere it breeds apprehensions that the BJP which has laid a trap first by G20, then by these judges’ visit, perhaps something is fishy,” she told reporters here.

Mehbooba said the CJI and 200 judges were “brought here to show them that the graveyard-like silence in J-K meant that everything was fine here”.

“However, I hope that all these judges, who are wise and decide the destiny of the people, must have seen what the reality is behind the wall,” she said.

The PDP chief said for the last four years when the case was in the top court, many laws were implemented in J-K “by virtue of which our land, our jobs and our resources have been looted”.

“The law says that till a case is in the court, no decision should be taken which can impact the case. Since the BJP has taken upon itself to oppose judiciary and the law, it trampled upon the Constitution and the Supreme Court in 2019 (by abrogating Article 370).

“There are several SC judgements like in the case of Sampat Prakash, Prem Nath Koul, Vijay Lakshmi Jha, where the SC has said that there is only one way to revoke Article 370 which is if the constituent assembly of J-K recommends it to the President. There was no constituent assembly of J-K, so who recommended it and how?” she added.

Referring to the judgement over the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Mehbooba said so many decisions have been taken in the past “without any proof” but only to “satisfy the collective conscience” of the people of the country.

“Many decisions have been taken in the past in which the Constitution and the law has been dismissed to only satisfy the collective conscience of people. Those judges then reached Parliament.

“I hope Justice Chandrachud, whose integrity is unquestionable which we have seen, if he wants to respect the emotions of the people, then it is his duty to respect the emotions of the people of J-K because (Article) 370 was the guarantee of our identity, land, and culture,” she said.

Mehbooba said the judiciary has to safeguard the Constitution and the law of the country.

“I hope when they safeguard the Indian Constitution and the law, then their decision will sure be in favour of the law and the Constitution, and not to satisfy the collective conscience of the people,” she added.

The PDP president said the people of J-K do not want anything other than the safeguards guaranteed to them by the Constitution of India, “which the BJP snatched away from us”.

“I hope the constitutional bench of the SC does justice to the Constitution,” she added.

Mehooba said the Supreme Court’s decision not to consider the latest affidavit of the Centre makes the PDP’s stand clear that the BJP does not have any legal or constitutional justification to abrogate Article 370.

In fact, they trampled upon the Constitution, she added.

Referring to the Centre’s assertion in the affidavit that the situation has improved in J-K, she said if everything is fine, then why are hundreds of youths and religious leaders in jail.

“We are not seeing any development other than raids by central and state agencies. Raids are conducted every day,” she said.

The top court on Tuesday had said it will commence day-to-day hearing from August 2 on the petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 that bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.