Supreme Court verdict on Article 370: What happened so far

Article 370 was the basis of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to Union of India at a time when erstwhile princely states had the choice to join either India or Pakistan after their independence from the British rule in 1947.

The supreme court is to pronounce its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories on Monday, let us dive into what is Article 370 and what has happened so far.

What is Article 370?

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Article 370 was the basis of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to Union of India at a time when erstwhile princely states had the choice to join either India or Pakistan after their independence from the British rule in 1947.

The article, which came into effect in 1949, exempts Jammu and Kashmir state from the Indian constitution.

It allowed J&K  to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications.

It established a separate constitution and a separate flag and denied property rights in the region to the outsiders.

That means the residents of the state live under different laws from the rest of the country in matters such as property ownership and citizenship.

Abrogation of Article 370

On August 5, 2019, the government decided to repeal the provisions under Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which granted a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Consequently, the Constitution of India got applicable to Jammu and Kashmir on par with other states and Union Territories of the country.

What has happened so far in the case?

The Supreme Court’s five-judge Constitution bench began hearing on the batch of pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir from August 2, 2023. After hearing the case for 16 days, the court reserved its verdict  on September 5.

Senior advocates, including Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subramanium, Rajeev Dhavan, Zaffar Shah and Dushyant Dave, had argued on behalf of the petitioners- during the hearing.

Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocates Harish Salve, Rakesh Dwivedi, V Giri and others appeared on behalf of the Centre.

During the hearing, concerns were raised regarding the constitutional validity of the abrogation of Article 370.