Delhi: Civil society groups hold public meeting to mark anniversary of Emergency

New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI) Civil society groups held a public meeting in central Delhi on Tuesday over the "independence of institutions and repressive laws" on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the declaration of an internal emergency.

The meeting was jointly organised by the People's Union of Civil Liberties-Delhi (PUCL-Delhi) and Jana Hastkshep.

Tejinder Singh Ahuja, general secretary of the PUCL-Delhi, said, "The programme was organised to discuss the independence of institutions and repressive laws in the context of the imposition of Emergency. The PUCL has been conducting this programme every year for the last 44 years to make people aware of the ill-effects of Emergency and withdrawal of civil liberties." On June 25, 1975, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, a Congress stalwart, imposed Emergency in the country, suspending civil liberties, putting opposition leaders and dissidents in jail and effecting press censorship.

S S Nehra, a lawyer, said, "The programme was specifically related to two laws -- UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) and PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) -- in the context of Emergency and in the democratic system we have today. Is the government moving towards strengthening democracy or towards weakening it?" Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a swipe at the Congress on Monday over the imposition of Emergency in 1975, calling it a "black spot" on democracy when the Constitution was "discarded". PTI NIT RC