Weddings cancelled ahead of SC hearing on Article 35-A

Srinagar: As tensions are escalating in Kashmir ahead of the hearing in the Supreme Court (SC) on Article 35A of the Constitution, weddings and other social events, board and university examinations and even some official functions scheduled later this week in the Valley are being cancelled or rearranged.

The apex court will hear the bunch of petitions challenging the Article 35A on August 31. According to the cause list released by the SC registry, the case figuring at serial number 18 among the cases listed on Friday will be heard by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.

“Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL)”, the alliance of key separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, has called for a two-day shutdown in the State from August 30 in protest against the “onslaught” on Article 35A. The call has been endorsed by various political, social, religious and trade organisations and civil society groups.

A similar strike had brought life to a standstill in the Kashmir Valley and Chenab valley and parts of Pirpanjal belt of the State’s Jammu region on August 5 and 6, coinciding with the hearing in the case in the SC. The hearing was, however, adjourned as Justice DY Chandrachud, one of three judges in bench, was not present. The court had said, “Let it be listed before a three-judge bench in the week commencing August 27 to determine whether it should be heard by a Constitution bench or not”.

In view of rising tensions and the strike call, various educational institutions in the Valley have announced a two-day break from August 30 whereas the board and university level examinations which were to be conducted on these two days have been postponed. Some government functions planned for Thursday and Friday have been deferred too. Various Srinagar newspapers have during the past couple of days carried paid advertisements announcing the cancelation of wedding receptions which had been scheduled between Wednesday and Saturday. Some weddings, as per announcements made through newspapers, have, however, been made austere by restricting them to performing of nikah with simplicity and without serving traditional wazwaan cuisine to guests. On Monday, about three dozen people were injured in violence as parts of Kashmir Valley erupted   following some private TV channels reported that that the SC was resuming hearing on the petitions challenging Article 35A instead of August 31 later during the day (Monday).
However, the police blamed the situation on “rumour-mongering by miscreants”.

The officials were quick to clarify that it was actually a fresh petition filed by a right-wing activist.

 Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay before the SC challenging Article 35A that had been listed for admission at around 2 pm on Monday and not the cluster of petitions clubbed in one which may come up for hearing on August 31. Later the apex court dropped the hearing on the fresh plea following adjournment request by the petitioner, a report from New Delhi said.

But surging crowds had already taken to the streets in many parts of the Valley and soon clashed with the security forces which fired teargas canisters and pellet shotguns to quell the stone-pelting mobs. In many areas, the marketplaces were closed and vehicles were withdrawn from the roads amid chaos. Also, most schools were also shut and their students and staff sent home “for security reasons”. Earlier students of various educational institutions in Shopian, Anantnag, Pulwama and Ganderbal were seen in the forefront of the spontaneous protests.     

Article 35A guarantees special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and thereby prohibiting non-permanent residents from permanent settlement and from acquiring immovable properties, government jobs and scholarships in the State. The provision also empowers the State Legislature to define such “permanent residents” and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents. It was added to the Constitution through a Presidential Order in 1954 issued by the then President in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 370 of the Constitution, with the concurrence of the Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Article 370 guarantees a special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union.

However, a petition seeking removal of Article 35A is currently pending before a three-judge bench of the SC. An NGO, ‘We the Citizens, believed to be an RSS think-tank, challenged 35A in the SC in 2014 on grounds that it was not added to the Constitution through amendment under Article 368 and that it was never presented before Parliament, and came into effect immediately.

In another case filed in the SC in July last year, two Kashmiri women argued that the State’s laws, flowing from Article 35A, had disenfranchised their children. The SC is also hearing yet another plea challenging the validity of Article 370, which guarantees special status to J&K within the Indian Union. The petition challenged the April 11, 2017 order of the Delhi High Court rejecting a plea saying nothing survives in it as the Apex Court has already dismissed a similar prayer on the issue. End it