Emergency-era sterilisation echoes in SC
26 July 2017 10:58 PM IST
The controversial sterilisation campaign during the Emergency era of 1975-1977 on Wednesday found mention in the Supreme Court while it was deliberating on whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right or not.
"Sterilisation was the worst experiment ever done on the poor people of the country," a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said. In September 1976, Sanjay Gandhi, son of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, had initiated a widespread compulsory sterilisation programme to limit population growth.
The campaign primarily involved getting males to undergo vasectomy.
Attorney General K K Venugopal also termed the Emergency as the most unfortunate incident in the life of the country and said "we all hope that it will never occur again."
The remarks on sterilisation campaign was made by one of the judges when Venugopal was making submission on the facets of the right to privacy. Agencies
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