India, June 25 -- Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday termed the Emergency of 1975 as the "darkest period" in Indian democracy and called on today's youth to understand its implications so such a chapter is never repeated. He was addressing students and faculty members as the chief guest at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Kumaon University in Nainital.

"Youth today cannot afford to be unaware of the Emergency. A lakh and forty thousand people were put behind bars. They had no access to the justice system, no means to vindicate their Fundamental Rights," he said

Recalling the judicial response to the Emergency, Dhankhar highlighted that nine high courts had ruled that Fundamental Rights could not be suspended, even during a s...