Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 2: High Court quashed the two detention orders passed under Public Safety Act and directed release of the duo.
Justice Rahul Bharti has quashed the PSA of Imtiyaz Ahmad Bhat and Zahoor Ahmad Dar. Detenue-Bhat was detained by District Magistrate Anantnag on 24.4.2024 while as detenue-Dar was detained by District Magistrate Bandipora on 11.9.2024.
Detenue-Bhat was detained by reference to a criminal case which the court said, by no stretch of reference and claim can be said to be enabling a case for preventive detention of the petitioner-Bhat and further he was on bail by virtue of order passed by the concerned criminal court which fact was deliberately withheld from being notified to the District Magistrate, Anantnag.
A bare perusal of the communication by the court for forwarding the dossier by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantnag would show that it mentions that it is having 18 leaves as materials/ enclosures out of which three (03) leaves were of dossier, six (06) leaves IR, four (04) leaves FIR and five (05) leaves of statements meaning thereby that the bail order was just a mere piece of paper for reference to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantnag not to be submitted along with dossier to the District Magistrate, Anantnag.
The said omission court recorded, on the part of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantnag was obviously with an intent to hide away a salient aspect related to the detenue that the criminal court has admitted him to bail which is always meant to be on merits after the Prosecution is given an opportunity of opposing the bail plea.
“The Prosecution is as good part of the Government of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir as is the Police Station, Pahalgam which falls under the Police administration of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantnag”, read the judgment.
The court said the very exercise related to the preventive detention of the petitioner conceived and carried out got vitiated with an illegality rendering the preventive detention of the petitioner an abuse of process of law at the end of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantnag and District Magistrate, Anantnag.
The court after perusal of the earlier detention order and present one with respect to the petitioner said the same reveals that on the very same operative set of facts and circumstances, the petitioner second time has been subjected to suffer preventive detention on the pretext of maintenance of Public Order as against the pretext of Security of State in the first detention order.
“The cumulative effect of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case is that the petitioner’s preventive detention is, in fact, just an extension of his previous preventive detention by mirage of words and pretext by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bandipora complemented by the respondent-District Magistrate, Bandipora and, therefore, the same is held to be misconceived and unwarranted”, The court concluded.
With these facts of cases of both the detenues, the court quashed their PSAs with the directions to the authorities to restore their personal liberty by their release from the concerned Jails and to that effect Superintendents of concerned Jail to act in compliance of the directions hereby being issued with respect to the release of both the detenues from preventive detention custody.
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