Jammu and Kashmir’s Special Status: What Was Article 370?

A five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud will hear 20 petitions, on July 11, seeking to challenge the legal validity of the August 5, 2019 presidential order that nullified Article 370 of the Constitution.

As Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, came into being which divided Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.

As a result of the abrogation, all Indian laws are now automatically applicable to Kashmiris, and people from outside the state are now able to buy property there.

The now-scrapped article allowed the state a certain amount of autonomy - its own constitution, a separate flag and freedom to make laws. Foreign affairs, defence and communications remained the preserve of the central government.

India's BJP-led government had long opposed Article 370 and revoking it was in the party's 2019 election manifesto.

According to the constitution, Article 370 could only be modified with the agreement of the "state government". But there wasn't much of a state government in Jammu and Kashmir for over a year before the abrogation.

In June 2018, Indian government had imposed federal rule after the government of the then chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, was reduced to a minority. This meant the central government only had to seek the consent of the governor who imposes its rule.

According to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the article was a "temporary" provision since the beginning and the framers of the Constitution had put it there "intelligently".

P Chidambaram, a senior leader in the opposition Congress Party described the decision as a "catastrophic step" and warned in parliament that it could have serious consequences.