The crown state of India, Jammu & Kashmir has been bifurcated into two Union Territories- Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh. Article 370 is the article mentioned in the Indian Constitution, giving special rights and status to the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It was drafted in Part XXI of the Constitution: Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions. When the representatives of Constituent Assemblies of all other states in May 1949 accepted the Indian Constitution as their own, the representatives of Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir requested that only those provisions of the Indian Constitution that corresponded to the original Instrument of Accession should be applied to the State. This is when Article 370 had to be incorporated.

As per this Article, stipulated that the other articles of the Constitution that gave powers to the Central Government would be applied to Jammu and Kashmir only with the concurrence of the State’s constituent assembly. It was intended to be a temporary provision but when the state constituent assembly dissolved in 1957, this article became permanently featured in the Indian Constitution.

This article along with Article 35(A) defined that the J&K state’s residents live under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to resident of other Indian states. As a result of this provision, Indian citizens from other states cannot purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.