Amitha Muraleedharan
A Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul in the Supreme Court postponed the petition filed by a 94 years-old widow, seeking compensation of Rs. 25 crores for the damages caused during the emergency in 1975 due to the authorities.
The Court asked during the hearing, “What kind of a plea is this?”
Dr. Neela Gokhale, representing the petitioner, informed the Court that the case would be argued by Senior Advocate Harish Salve.
Advocate Dr. Neela Gokhale referred to the order passed by the Allahabad High Court in 2020, which directed for the payment of rent arrears of a property belonging to the petitioner’s husband, who was subjected to proceedings by the authorities during the Emergency.
The petitioner had cited the judgment of KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs. Union of India and stated that the darkest time of Indian democracy has not yet provided relief to the petitioner who suffered atrocities from the authorities of the Indira Gandhi reign during the Emergency.
The petitioner also stated that the petitioner and her husband were the victims of the atrocities of authorities and had suffered arbitrary detention, which compelled them to abscond the country.
The court postponed the petition to next Monday.