The other day the Prime Minister, I believe while addressing some public meeting, referred to the frequent conflict between the liberty of the individual and the security of the State. Yes, I agree that the State should be secure so that the individual may have life, liberty and happiness. But the liberty of the individual is not a thing to be trifled with at the mere behest or arbitrary fiat of the executive. It was the great American thinker Thoreau who said: “At a time when men and women are unjustly imprisoned, the place for the just man and woman is also in prison.” If this article as moved by Dr. Ambedkar were passed today can we say with any degree of assurance, that the liberty of men and women in this country would be worth a moments purchase and would not be trampled under foot without a moment’s notice ? Sir, I do not want to alarm the House and sing a jeremiad, but I fear that such a situation is likely to arise if this article be passed today. As an autocratic negation of liberty this article takes the palm over all other constitutions of the world. Article 279 which we have already passed provides that as long as an emergency proclamation is in force the guarantees of individual freedom as set forth in article 13 will be automatically suspended throughout the Union; and now article 280 denies to the citizen the right of access to courts of law for making complaints about the violation of not only the rights of individual freedom but all other fundamental rights during the period of emergency. A general authorisation of this kind for restricting individual freedom has no parallel anywhere else.
