Shweta Tambade
The Supreme Court is likely to hear a plea today by Veera Sarin seeking the emergency to be declared in 1975 as “wholly unconstitutional.”
Veera Sarin, a 94-year-old widow, wants the emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi of 1975 proclaimed to be “wholly unconstitutional.”
During the 1975 emergency, her gold jewellery and diamond business in Karol Bagh and Cannaught Place in Delhi was raided by the government officials when civil rights were suspended.
The petition said, “The petitioner is 94 years old and seeks closure to the trauma of her lifetime, which still resonates in her mind.”
“Even as on date, the movable properties including jewellery, artefacts, figurines, paintings, sculptures, and other valuables have still not been reinstituted to her family. The petitioner is entitled to be compensated for the acts, deeds, and things done under the authority of the government,” it said.
The family was scared by the police, Veera’s husband was burdened with cases and their properties were raided very often.
Her husband H. K Sarin was charge in one case where, under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act of 1976, continued from 1975 to 2014 until the Delhi High Court declared it a “nullity.”
He never got out of the shock that the family business was going under.
Veera Sarin claimed that they have been victims of excesses of grave and period of our nation’s history.
The petition represented by Advocates Ananya Ghosh and Neela Gokhale will be heard by a three-judge bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
On 28th July this year, she got partial compensation for the illegal possession of their immovable properties.
Ms. Sarin has sought a compensation of Rs 25 crore.