Emergency at 50: Activists recount horrors of arbitrary arrests

Lucknow: In July 1975, KP Singh, 74, was just 24-year-old and in the midst of his second-year LLB exams at Lucknow University when he was arrested by the police during the Emergency.

His only offense: participating in protests against the Emergency under the leadership of socialist leader JP Narayan.

Singh, one of the 4,373 individuals from Uttar Pradesh imprisoned during the Emergency, recalls how the police had surrounded the LU exam center while he was still taking the test.

"I was in the middle of my LLB second year examination when I was arrested.

At least, they could have waited till I finished my exam. I was the only one arrested from the exam centre and due to that mindless arrest, I lost a year," said Singh, a former vice-president of the Lucknow University Student Union, as he recalled his time in the Lucknow district jail.

"After my arrest, no one came to see me in jail -- everyone was afraid they might be arrested too," he said, adding that he turned down all offers to join the Congress, even though doing so would have secured his release.

The Emergency in India lasted for 21 months, from June 25, 1975, to March 21, 1977, and this June 25 marks the 50th anniversary of its imposition.

Similarly, Ganesh Rai, a scholar who had remained in hiding for nearly six months after the Emergency was declared, said he ultimately courted arrest on December 22, 1975, at the Law Faculty of Lucknow University.

"I was taken to Hasanganj police station in Lucknow. There was no mistreatment in the morning, but by night, the police began threatening everyone who had been arrested," he recalled.

"It was December, bitterly cold, and I had to spend the night wrapped in a torn quilt. I didn't get any food until almost 28 hours later -- just a cup of tea, a samosa, and a guava," he added.

Rai echoed Singh's sentiments and said acquaintances avoided any contact with them out of fear.

"People were so scared, they wouldn't even greet my family, fearing government backlash. In fact, my own family only found out about my arrest three days later," he said.

He eventually managed to appear for his third-year LLB exams from jail, after securing permission from the High Court. Jagdish Rastogi, a photographer who spent 20 months in jail during the Emergency, recalled how overcrowded Lucknow Jail had become at the time.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, senior JDU leader and patron of the Sampoorn Kranti Rashtriya Manch, KC Tyagi, urged the government to grant those arrested during the Emergency the same recognition and status as freedom fighters.

In fact, he has already written a letter to the government on this matter and is awaiting a response.

"It is now 50 years since the Emergency was imposed on the country. Those who had gone to the jail then were in the age group of 25-30 year and majority of them are no longer alive. So we are seeking a 'taamrapatra' (memento) for those still around and in their twilight years," said Tyagi.

On June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi announced the imposition of the Emergency in a broadcast on All India Radio, shortly after the Supreme Court granted a conditional stay to an Allahabad High Court verdict declaring her election to the Lok Sabha null and void. It was lifted on March 21, 1977.