‘Cannot ignore Pahalgam': SC on plea to restore Jammu and Kashmir statehood
A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing an application seeking directions to the Union government to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The plea argued that the delay in restoring statehood was hurting the rights of citizens, Bar and Bench reported.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government had abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state, in August 2019. It also bifurcated the state into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
In December 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the 2019 order abrogating Article 370 and ordered the Union government to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
During the hearing on Thursday, the petitioners argued that the court, in its 2023 judgment, had relied on the Union government's assurance that statehood would be granted after the Assembly elections.
The elections held in September and October 2024 were the first in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade and the first since the abrogation of Article 370.
'You can't ignore what happened in Pahalgam,' Live Law quoted the court as having told the petitioners.
The terror attack at Baisaran near Pahalgam town in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 left 26 persons dead and 16 injured. The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those killed were Hindu.
Meanwhile, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, opposed the plea on Thursday.
'We assured statehood after elections,' Live Law quoted Mehta as saying. 'There is a peculiar position of this part of our country. I don't know why this issue is agitated now. This particular state is not the correct state to muddy the water.'
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