Court caseAIR 1976 SC 1207

During the 1975 Emergency a Presidential order under Article 359 suspended the right to move any court for enforcement of Articles 14, 21 and 22. Persons detained under MISA filed habeas corpus petitions in High Courts, several of which held the petitions maintainable. The State appealed.

The majority held that no person had any locus to move a court for habeas corpus or any other remedy against detention during the Emergency, since Article 21 was the sole repository of the right to life and liberty. Khanna J dissented, holding that the right not to be deprived of life or liberty without authority of law exists independently of Article 21 and could not be suspended.