Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Friday quashed detention order under Public Safety Act against two detainees and ordered their release from preventive custody forthwith provided they are not required in connection with any other case.
A bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar passed the orders while hearing separate pleas by the detainees—Zahoor Ahmad Dar from Kulgam and Sehran Muzaffar Dar of Srinagar—who had challenged detention orders—(No.70/DMK/PSA/2022 dated 27.08.2022) and (No.DMS/PSA/82/ 2022 dated 30.08.2022) issued by District Magistrate of Kulgam and Srinagar respectively.
“The legal position is well settled that resort to preventive detention has to be taken only in cases where there is an urgent need to detain a person so as to prevent him from indulging in activities which are prejudicial to the maintenance of public order or security of the State,” the court said while quashing Sehran’s detention order, adding, “When there is unsatisfactory and unexplained delay in executing the order of detention, such delay would throw considerable doubt on the genuineness of the subjective satisfaction recorded by the detaining authority. This would lead to a legitimate inference that the detaining authority was not really and genuinely satisfied as regards the necessity for detaining the detenue (detainee).”
The court also also underscored that a detainee cannot be detained under PSA when the grounds are vague and lack material particulars as the same prevents a detainee from making an effective representation against his detention. “Therefore, there has been violation of constitutional guarantees envisaged under Article 22(5) of the Constitution,” the court said while deciding Zahoor plea.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
