NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India (SCI) has decided to conduct day-to-day hearings on several petitions challenging the abrogation of the special status of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) from 2 August.
India’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led government had revoked the IIOJK’s special status by repealing Article 370 of the constitution in 2019. The measure allowed Indian citizens to have the right to acquire property in the valley and settle there permanently.
Article 370 had limited the Indian parliament’s power to impose laws in the occupied territory, apart from isues of defence, foreign affairs and communications.
Attempt to dilute Kashmir’s demographics
Kashmiri citizens, international bodies and critics of Narendra Modi’s government had declared the step an attempt to change the demographics of Muslim-majority region with Hindu settlers.
A five-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud — took up the petitions putting to question the constitutional validity of the Modi government’s Aug 2019 decision to revoke Article 370, according to Indian media.
The Indian government submitted an affidavit in the court on Monday, saying that it had brought unprecedented security and stability, development, and progress to the region, which was often missing during the Article 370 regime.
However during the on Tuesday, Justice Chandrachud said the government’s latest affidavit regarding the current status of occupied Kashmir with its special status abrogated would not have any effect on the constitutional matters raised in the petitions and would not be relied upon for that purpose.
