Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 27: The Division Bench of High Court has ruled that a juvenile cannot be detained under Public Safety Act for committing illegal acts and set aside writ court judgment whereby detention order was upheld.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal allowed the appeal challenging therein the writ court verdict whereby order of detention was upheld against the appellant.
The bench has held that allegations relating to illegal acts committed when a person was a juvenile cannot legally justify a subsequent detention order under the J&K Public Safety Act.
The appellant was detained under the PSA in pursuance of an order issued by the District Magistrate, Pulwama. The detention order relied on the detenue’s arrest in an FIR, registration of a charge-sheet before the Juvenile Justice Board, and certain alleged activities thereafter. The appellant contended that he was a juvenile at the time of the FIR and that the alleged grounds were vague and not proximate to the detention order.
An illegal act committed by a juvenile does not stigmatize his future and likewise, any illegal act committed by the juvenile cannot form the basis for issuance of a detention order under the Act, therefore holding that “the appellant could not have been detained for activities allegedly committed while he was juvenile as illegal acts committed during minority cannot be used to justify a preventive detention order”, the court observed.
The Court, while setting aside the writ court judgment and holding the detention order as illegal, observed that the Act expressly prohibits detention of juveniles and that past acts committed during the minority cannot be used to form the subjective satisfaction necessary for preventive detention.
“…General allegations, such as instigating youth to join terrorists or providing logistic support, without particulars, rendered the grounds insufficient to convey reasons for detention with clarity or allow the detenu to make an effective representation”, read the judgment.
“The detention order was legally unsustainable. Consequently, it is quashed with the direction to immediately release the appellant from preventive custody, unless required in any other case”, the court directed.
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