How the Shah Commission report disappeared and its eventual reappearance

On 12 June 1975 in Courtroom no. 24 of the Allahabad High Court, Judge Jagmohanlal Sinha found the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, guilty of fraudulent elections. Gandhi was found to have violated Section 123(7) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 by using the services of government officials in support of her election campaign. Her election was declared “void” and she was barred from holding any elective office for the next six years.

Also Read: During Emergency, DMK members detained on unclear grounds ‘against spirit’ of MISA provisions: Shah Commission

In a last-ditch attempt to hang on to power, she advised President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a national emergency. The head of state fulfilled her wish and declared a State of Emergency at the stroke of midnight on June 25, 1975.

Subsequently, the basic rights of the citizens were suspended and the federal democracy was transformed overnight into a unitary one. The next 21 months saw the imprisonment of political leaders, censorship of the press and even forced sterilizations.

So, when she was finally defeated in the 1977 general elections, the political parties that came together to form the Janata Party, which eventually formed the government, appointed the Shah Commission in 1978, headed by former Chief Justice JC Shah, to investigate the excesses committed during the Emergency.

In her biography of Indira Gandhi, Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi, author Katherine Frank noted that the former prime minister was uncooperative during the deposition.

The commission eventually released two interim reports and one final report on August 6, 1978. The reports detailed abuses of power by the central government, which included the detention and arbitrary arrest of political dissidents and censorship of the media. The report also highlighted the systematic suppression of civil liberties, among other excesses.

However, these conclusions could not remain in the public consciousness for long, as rifts began to appear in the Janata government due to ideological differences. Citizens were forced to queue again at polling centers in just two years. This time the mandate was overwhelmingly in favor of Indira Gandhi.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with former Karnataka Chief Minister Devraj Urs (second right) and Congress leaders PA Sangma (second left) and Sitaram Kesri (far left) during the swearing-in ceremony of the new Union Ministers at Ashoka Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on June 8, 1980. Photo Credit: Hindu Archives

Once back in charge, she seemed intent on refuting the evidence gathered by the Shah’s commission. In his book Political Mobilization and Democracy in India: States of Emergency, author Vernon Hewitt noted that she tried to call up copies of the Commission’s reports whenever possible. And it seemed that for a moment she succeeded; no one, including researchers, authors and journalists, could access the report.

It almost seemed as if this historical document containing the troubles of a young democracy had been lost in time.

But that was until Rajagopal ‘Era’ Sezhiyan, a former Member of Parliament, discovered the report in his home library in 2010 and decided to publish it as the Shah Commission Report: Lost and Regained. With the re-release of the book, an important documented account of history has made its way back into the country’s political, legal and academic circles, enriching our understanding of authoritarian decisions and their excesses.

Sezhiyan era. File. | Photo Credit: Hindu Archives

It later emerged that the National Library of Australia also had a copy of the Commission’s report.

Era Sezhiyan said of the documentary: “…it is more than an investigative report; it is a magnificent historical document to serve as a warning to those who rise to power in the future not to disturb the basic structure of a functioning democracy, and also, to those oppressed under despotic rule, a hopeful guide to redeem freedom through spirited struggle.”

On 24 June 2025, Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai launched his book Shah Commission: Echoes from a Buried Report. Slowly, one would believe that the message is returning to the public consciousness.

Published – 27 Jun 2025 10:51 IST