Supreme Court of India's emergency-era judgment was the darkest in judicial history, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Friday. .Dhankhar said that during times of crisis, people turn to the judiciary for protection. However, the Supreme Court of India declined to uphold the fundamental rights. "Nine High Courts in the country gloriously defined that emergency or no emergency, people have fundamental rights, there is access to the justice system. Unfortunately, Supreme Court overturned all the nine High Courts and gave a judgment which will be known as the darkest in the history of any judicial institution in the world that believes in rule of law," he said. .He was alluding to the ADM Jabalpur case, widely known as the Habeas Corpus case, a landmark legal dispute that arose during India’s emergency period (1975–1977).In a 4–1 majority ruling, the Supreme Court held that during emergency, individuals could not seek relief from High Courts against detentions by State. This judgment effectively allowed the suspension of fundamental rights, especially the right to personal liberty under Article 21 during emergency period..Supreme Court's judgment effectively legitimized dictatorship and authoritarianism, Dhankhar opined. The decision was that it is the will of the executive to have emergency for as long as it thinks fit, he added."And that secondly, during Emergency, there are no fundamental rights. So the judgment of the Supreme Court legitimized dictatorship, authoritarianism, despotism in Bharat, the oldest and now most vibrant democracy. You, therefore, have to remember it," he said.Dhankhar was speaking at an event organized for interns at Rajya Sabha..Dhankhar also raised questions about then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s decision to sign the Emergency proclamation at the behest of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, rather than based on the advice of the entire Council of Ministers."A President cannot act on the advice of an individual, the Prime Minister. The Constitution is very categorical. There is a Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister, to aid and advise the President. This was one violation. What was the result? More than 100,000 citizens were put behind the bars within hours. They were dragged out of their homes, put in cells all over the country. Our Constitution ceased to exist. Our media was held hostage. Some of the illustrious papers had blank editorials. Who were these people who were suddenly put behind the bars? Many of them became Prime Ministers of this country- Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Morarji Desai, Chandra Shekhar. Many of them became Chief Ministers, Governors, Scientists. Many of them were of your age.".Dhankhar further remarked that the current government has wisely chosen to observe June 25 each year as 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' (Constitution Killing Day)."This is to make the event a somber reminder that we ourselves have to be guardians and watchdogs of democratic values. I urge you to learn everything you can about the Emergency. Then you will come to know the price of democracy," he said.
