Indian Supreme Court asks lead petitioner in Article 370 abrogation challenge case, to file an affidavit to unconditionally accept that J&K is an integral part of India

NEW DEHLI, Sep 5 (SABAH): The Supreme Court on Monday asked National Conference leader Mohammad Akbar Lone, the lead petitioner in the Article 370 abrogation challenge case, to file an affidavit affirming that he unconditionally accepts that J&K is an integral part of India and that he owes allegiance to the Constitution of India.

The Centre, J&K administration and other respondents accused Mr. Lone of raising slogans, including ‘Pakistan Zindabad’, in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2018.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta demanded that Lone file an affidavit pledging his allegiance to the Constitution so as to not encourage others as it might affect the ‘efforts of the nation to bring normalcy which has been substantially successful’.

He further apprised the Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y Chandrachud that Lone would have been the lead petitioner, after the withdrawal of Shah Faesal, had the court not given the generic title ‘In Re Article 370 of the Constitution’ to the case.

On August 5, 2019, the Centre decided to strip the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir of special status and bifurcate it into two Union Territories. By abrogating Article 370, the Central Government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Several petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, were referred to a Constitution Bench in 2019.