New Delhi: An organisation for those arrested during the Emergency period has filed an intervention petition in the Supreme Court, urging the court to declare them as freedom fighters.
The All India Loktantra Senani Joint Action Committee has sought to be part of the petition filed by 94-year-old Veran Sarin, who had moved the apex court to declare the Emergency, proclaimed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, as being unconstitutional.
A bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had on 14 December issued a notice to the central government on Sarin’s petition but did not entertain her request for Rs 25 crore as compensation.
The fresh applicant in Sarin’s case is an umbrella organisation for several such bodies representing those arrested during the emergency period.
In its intervention application seeking freedom fighter status, the Loktantra Senani has told the court that 10 states have recognised the applicants and extended monthly pension, besides providing free health and travelling passes to them.
The Senani, however, has added that these welfare schemes are not consistent and that they change depending on the party in power.
The application gives instances to show how state governments stopped providing monetary assistance to the group members merely due to the change of the ruling party in the State.
‘Deserve redressal by the state’
Coming out in support of Sarin, the organisation said its members have been deprived of their legal right to life and liberty by state authorities.
“During the said period the said act was illegal and such persons are entitled to redressal by the state,” it asserted in its application filed by advocate Bharti Tyagi.
Sarin’s lawyer, senior advocate Harish Salve, had advanced a similar argument to convince the court to issue a notice in the matter.
The bench, which had on 8 December verbally said it did not “prima facie” see any merit in the plea, agreed to examine the issue when Salve urged it to make sure that “history is corrected” so that it does not “repeat itself”.
‘No response on plea to Centre for uniform welfare policy’
The All India Loktantra Senani Joint Action Committee has cited old high court orders that have advised the state governments to provide necessary assistance to those who were incarcerated during the Emergency.
The petition says that based on these orders, the group members wrote to states and the central government for framing a uniform policy to render assistance to them but did not receive any response.
Some states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan did extend welfare schemes to them, albeit intermittently, the application stated.
“These facilities were not provided in a consistent manner and often taken away altogether due to the politics in the state, as per the convenience of the party in power,” the application added.
For instance, pension and honours were withdrawn after being bestowed in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the plea said, adding that in Madhya Pradesh it was reinstated in 2018, but remains withdrawn in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
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