Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 19: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed three separate preventive detention orders passed under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PIT NDPS), citing violation of constitutional safeguards and reliance on stale grounds.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal allowed the appeal of Owais Ahmad Trag of Tral, Pulwama, who had been detained in September 2024 under PIT NDPS Act. The Bench noted that his last alleged involvement was in 2022, yet the detention was ordered in 2024, after a gap of nearly 15 months.
The High Court ruled that the “live and proximate link” between past conduct and preventive detention had snapped, making the order unsustainable. It further observed that Trag’s representation sent through registered post in September 2024 was never considered by the authorities, amounting to violation of Article 22(5) of the Constitution.
In a separate case, Justice Mohd Yousuf Wani quashed the detention of Salman Riyaz Khan of Tral, Pulwama, who had been booked under PSA in March 2024 following his bail in an FIR registered in Nowhatta. The High Court observed that the detention order was based on a solitary 2023 case, with a delay of almost a year, thereby lacking proximity.
The judgment stressed that “preventive detention cannot run parallel to a criminal trial” and pointed out that neither translated documents nor full FIR records were supplied to the detenu. Holding that procedural guarantees under Article 22(5) had been breached, the High Court ordered his immediate release.
In the third matter, Justice Sanjay Dhar struck down the detention of Akash Ahmad War of Anantnag, who had been booked in January 2024 under PSA. The High Court held that although War’s representation was forwarded to CID in January, it was decided only in May 2024 – after a delay of over four months.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sarabjeet Singh Mokha Versus DM Jabalpur (2021), the High Court observed that such delay “strikes at the heart of procedural rights guaranteed to a detenu” and renders the detention order illegal. War was accordingly directed to be released.
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