Expressing concern, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it is a serious matter if people approaching high courts for permission to visit any part of India, let alone Jammu and Kashmir, are denied permission to do so.
Presiding over the three-judge bench of India's highest court, Gogoi was hearing several fresh pleas linked to the denial of permission to visit Kashmir. He announced his plans to visit Srinagar after approving the request of senior opposition politician Ghulam Nabi Azad to visit his family and relatives in the state.
However, Chief Justice Gogoi did not mention on which date he would conduct the visit.
Restrictions have been in place since the central government revoked the special semi-autonomous status which had been granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution 75 years ago.
Azad, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, tried to visit the state twice since the nullification Article 370. But he was sent back from Srinagar Airport to India’s capital city of New Delhi both times.
After New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status on 5 August, Islamabad upped its Kashmir-centred rhetoric on all available forums, both at home and abroad. It has also suspended diplomatic and trade engagements with India.
New Delhi insists the decision to revoke the region's special status was an internal matter.
