Discuss the effects of Emergency on the following aspects of our polity :

• Effects on civil liberties for citizens.

• Impact on relationship between the Executive and Judiciary.

• Functioning of Mass Media.

• Working of the Police and Bureaucracy.

(b) Impact on relationship between the Executive and Judiciary : A conflict between the Parliament and Judiciary had been going on over different constitutional issues, the constitutional interpretations and political ideologies were getting mixed up. People close to the Prime Minister wanted a judiciary and the bureaucracy ‘committed’ to the vision of the executive and the legislature. During emergency exactly this happened. The government made extensive use of preventive detention. Large scale arrests were made. Arrested workers could not challenge their arrest through habeas corpus petitions. Although some High Courts gave judgments allowing courts to entertain a writ of habeas corpus but the Supreme Court over-ruled the High Courts and accepted the government’s plea. This judgment was one of the most controversial judgments of the Supreme Court which had closed the doors of judiciary for the citizens.

(c) Functions of Mass Media : The Emergency adversely affected the functioning of mass media as mentioned below:

(i) After midnight of 25 June 1975, the electricity to all the major newspaper offices was disconnected.

(ii) Freedom of press was suspended and press censorship was introduced.

(iii) Newspapers like the Indian Express and the Statesman protested against censorship by leaving blank spaces where news items had been censored.

(iv) Magazines like the Seminar and the Main Stream chose to close down rather than submit to censorship.

(v) Many journalists were arrested for writing against the Emergency.

(vi) Many underground newsletters and leaflets were published to bypass censorship.

(d) Working of the Police and Bureaucracy : Even before the declaration of Emergency, persons close to the Prime Minister started talking of the need for a bureaucracy ‘committed’ to the vision of the executive and the legislature. This happened in practice during Emergency because the actual implementation of the Emergency rule took place through the police and the administration. These institutions could not function indepedently. They were turned into political instruments of the ruling party. According to Shah Commission Report, the administration and the police became vulnerable to political pressures.