Abrogation of Article 370 Need of the Hour had Long Passed

Vaishnavi Venkatesan
Symbiosis Law School, Pune, India

Volume III, Issue II, 2020

Article 370 and matters relating to Kashmir have ever since independence itself held paramount importance in the country and its functioning. There have been controversies surrounding the article since the instrument of accession came into effect itself in 1947. Numerous views have been put forth about its advantages, disadvantages and whether it should continue to exist after 72 years after independence. There have been debates, meetings and controversies surrounding Article 370, but no action had been taken. This was until now. On 6th August 2019, the BJP government proposed a bill in the parliament for abrogation of article 370 and a bifurcation of the state of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh into two union territories. The bill was passed by both the houses with a majority. Firstly, this paper will be focusing on how the history of Article 370 came into being, what exactly it states and analyzing the provisions under it. Secondly, this paper will be drawing out a logical conclusion on whether abrogation of article 370 was the right and logical thing to do. Thirdly, this paper will be dealing with the legal implications of removing the “special status” granted to Jammu and Kashmir and how it affects the current legal view and a few previous major landmark cases. Lastly, the author of the paper will conduct primary and secondary research on the current opinion of people on the scrapping of the article and record their views and beliefs.

Keywords: Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir, Article 35-A, Abrogation, Logic, Union territory, bifurcation

 

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