SC upholds legality of J&K HC orders
Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 29: The Jammu and Kashmir administration today informed the Supreme Court that it has decided to release forthwith the J&K High Court Bar Association Kashmir leader Mian Abdul Qayoom detained under the J&K Public Safety Act with certain conditions.
It told the top court that Qayoom would be released with the conditions that he would not visit J&K till August 7, the day his current detention is coming to an end and would not issue any statements.
Qayoom was detained following the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Ajay Rastogi and Aniruddha Bose took the statements of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the J&K administration, on record and ordered his release with certain conditions.
Mehta said the administration has decided to release Qayoom, nine days ahead of his current detention coming to an end on August 7 but he will have to remain in Delhi till then.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Qayoom, suggested that it would be better, if he is released on Thursday at the time when his family members are there to receive him. Mehta agreed to the submission.
The Supreme Court bench appreciated the stand taken by both the sets of the counsels and said, “despite the matter being sensitive in character, we feel both sides have looked at the way forward and the result of the same is that we are not called upon to examine the legality and validity of the impugned judgments of the Division Bench and Single Judge of the J&K High Court”.
“We are very happy to note the constructive approach adopted by the Government and the persuasive skills used by Tushar Mehta to persuade the Government to accept the suggestion both of Dushyant Dave and the Court”, the Bench said, adding “it is agreed that the petitioner will be released tomorrow when his family members will be able to receive him and the petitioner will abide by the assurance/undertaking given by the senior counsel of the petitioner to this court qua no travelling to Jammu and Kashmir till August 7”.
Before parting with the matter, the Bench said, “we must say that Kashmir has been a troubled area. Nature has been very kind to the place but it is the human race which has been unkind”, adding “it is time for all wounds to be healed and look to the future within the domain of the country and we are sure that the petitioner (Qayoom) will also adopt a more constructive approach to the future and Government will consider how to bring complete normalcy at the earliest”.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Division Bench of the J&K High Court comprising of Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul had in the month of May this year dismissed the appeal of Qayoom and upheld his detention order passed under the Public Safety Act. The DB had also left it to the Government to consider his release.
Follow our WhatsApp channel