the Supreme Court in December 1975. Given the important nature of the case, a bench comprising the five seniormost judges was convened to hear the case. During the arguments, Justice Khanna at one point asked the Attorney General Niren De: "Life is also mentioned in Article 21, and would Government argument extend to it also?". He answered, "Even if life was taken away legally, courts are helpless". The bench opined in April 1976, with the majority deciding against habeas corpus, permitting unrestricted powers of detention during an emergency. Justices A. N. Ray, P. N. Bhagwati, Y. V. Chandrachud, and M.H. Beg, stated in the majority decision: Given the Presidential Order [declaring emergency] no person has any locus to move any writ petition under Art. 226 before a High Court for habeas corpus or any other writ or order or direction to challenge the legality of an order of detention. Justice Beg even went on to observe: "We understand that the care and concern bestowed by the state authorities upon the welfare of detenues who are well housed, well-fed, and well treated, is almost maternal." However, Justice Khanna resisted the pressure to concur with this majority view. He wrote in his dissenting opinion: The Constitution and the laws of India do not permit life and liberty to be at the mercy of the absolute power of the Executive . . . . What is at stake is the rule of law. The question is whether the law speaking through the authority of the court shall be silenced and rendered mute... detention without trial is an anathema to all those who love personal liberty. In the end, he quoted Justice Charles Evans Hughes: A dissent is an appeal to the brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of a future day, when a later decision may correct the error into which the dissenting judge believes the court to have been betrayed. Before delivering this opinion, Justice Khanna mentioned to his sister: I have prepared my judgment, which is going to cost me the Chief Justice-ship of India. Aftermath of the judgment True to his apprehensions, his junior, M. H. Beg, was appointed Chief Justice in January 1977. This was against legal tradition and was widely protested by bar associations and the legal community. Justice Khanna resigned on the same day. After his resignation Bar Associations all over India, in protest, abstained