Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 21: Jammu and Kashmir High Court today allowed the petition of hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Masrat Aalam Bhat who was seeking quashing of his detention which was slapped on him in the month of April this year.
Justice Hasnain Masoodi had reserved the judgment on Aalam’s case on July 14 after hearing arguments of both the counsels representing Aalam as well as Counsel representing Government and announced the judgment today by allowing his petition.
The Government had slapped Public Safety Act (PSA) on April 21 this year which was passed by District Magistrate Budgam against hardline Hurriyat Conference leader, Masrat Aalam Bhat, and shifted him to Kotbalwal Jail in Jammu.
Masrat, who was released in the month of March after spending over four years in jail, was arrested on April 17 on charges of waging war against the country and sedition after he hoisted Pakistani flag and chanted pro-Pakistan slogans during a rally of chairman of Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on April 15.
Earlier, Masrat was remanded to seven-day police custody after his arrest.
He had applied for bail before Chief Judicial Magistrate Budgam which heard the arguments of the prosecution and the petitioner’s counsel. The court had reserved its orders on the bail plea but PSA (vide order no: DMB/PSA/02 OF 2015 DATED 21-04-2015) was slapped on him soon after the hearing on his bail plea.
Police had registered a case against Aalam, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and several other separatist leaders under Sections 121-A (waging war against the country), 124 (sedition), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 147 (rioting) of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) among others. Aalam was last arrested in 2010 for leading the summer agitation in which around 120 people were killed in police firing on protesters.
Aalam while challenging his detention had submitted that District Magistrate Budgam passed the detention order at a time when he was in police custody in connection with FIR no.92/15 and bail application by him in the said FIR was pending for consideration before the court of law as such District Magistrate concern was required to wait for the outcome of the bail application and without waiting for the orders of the court he(Magistrate) issued detention order against him.
It is further submitted by him that the law is well settled that if a person has been booked in a substantive offence, he cannot be detained under the provisions of J&K Public Safety Act unless there are compelling reasons for doing such an exercise and such reason have not been stated in the detention order as well as in grounds of detention.
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