NEW DELHI, June 20: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday slammed the Supreme Court for its verdict delivered during the Emergency, dubbing it as the "darkest" in the judicial history of the world.
According to an official statement, he said the judgment of the Supreme Court overruling that of nine high courts legitimised dictatorship and authoritarianism.
Dhankhar also questioned the then president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed for signing the proclamation of Emergency on the "instance" of then prime minister Indira Gandhi and not the entire council of ministers.Addressing a group of Rajya Sabha interns here, the vice president said, "A president cannot act on the advice of an individual, the prime minister. The Constitution is very categorical.
"There is a council of ministers headed by the PM to aid and advise the president. This was one violation, but what was the result? More than 1,00,000 citizens of this country were put behind bars in hours," he said.
Referring to the role of the judiciary during the Emergency, Dhankhar said, "That was a time when the fundamental essence of democracy capsized in times of distress. People look up to the judiciary.
—PTI
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