94-year-old Indian widow proceeds SC urging declaration of emergency of 1975 as unconstitutional

Published : 04 Dec 2020, 14:45

Sahos Desk

A 94 year-old widow has gone to the Supreme Court, seeking for the Proclamation of Emergency in 1975 to be declared as unconstitutional and for a compensation not less than Rs. 25 crores from the authorities reports LiveLaw.

The plea is relied on the judgment of KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs. Union of India (2017) which overruled the 5-Judge Bench decision in ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976).It is drawn by Advocate Dr. Neela Gokhale and filed by Advocate-on-Record Anannya Ghosh.

The plea states "the present petition is a plea for justice and and restitution of a lifetime spent in utter misery and anguish on account of the atrocities suffered by the Petitioner, her deceases husband and her family".

As victims of the Emergency, the petition recounts that the then government authorities, in their bid to plunder businesses and homes of victims, targeted the Petitioner and her husband with unjustifiable and arbitrary detention orders, and consequently led to them fleeing the country.

His business was shut down, assets and valuables including immovable property was seized and appropriated. The Petitioner's husband succumbed to the pressure and died. Since then the Petitioner has been single-handedly facing all proceedings initiated against her husband during the Emergency
period, which were arbitrarily pursued"- as reported by LiveLaw.

Referring to the judgment of the Delhi High Court passed in December 2014 which ultimately quashed the proceedings against the deceased husband of the Petitioner, the plea then conveys that valuables worth crores of rupees from the flourishing business of the husband, which were seized, are yet to be restituted.

Additionally, it was only viding order dated 28th July 2020, that the High Court directed for payment of arrears of rent for one of the properties to the Petitioner and other legal heirs. However, it has been contended that other valuable movable properties have been siphoned away, according to the said report.

At her elderliness, the Petitioner has looked for the satisfaction of a simple desire to achieve closure to her trauma and get an affirmation of her suffices.

The instant plea has been filed before the Supreme Court. It is likely to be listed on December before a Bench headed by Justice SK Kaul.

Source: LiveLaw

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