A
Brexit-like referendum on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir is out of the question, the Supreme
Court said on Tuesday.
Brexit refers to the process by which the United
Kingdom withdrew from the European Union (EU) with the support of 52 per cent
of voters in a referendum conducted in 2016. Britain officially left the bloc
in January 2020.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY
Chandrachud is hearing over 20 petitions contesting the Modi government's
decisions to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status and split the erstwhile
state into two Union Territories in 2019.
On
Tuesday, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said that the abrogation of Article 370 of
the Constitution, which granted Jammu and Kashmir special status, was a
political act like Brexit.
"In
Brexit, there was no constitutional provision seeking a referendum," Sibal
argued. "But, when you want to sever a relationship which has been entered
into, you must ultimately seek the opinion of the people because people are at
the centre of this decision not the Union of India," he added.
Chief Justice Chandrachud, on the other hand, said
that India is a constitutional democracy in which the will of its people can
only be assessed through established institutions. "You cannot, therefore,
envisage a situation like a Brexit-type referendum," he said.