Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 30: High Court today upheld two detention orders passed under Public safety Act and quashed three with the direction to the authorities to release the detenues.
Justice M A Chowdhary upheld the PSAs of Sheeraz Ahmad Sheikh of Wanpora, District Shopian and Mohammad Ashraf Sheikh of Narbal, District Budgam. They were detained by the concerned District Magistrates on 01.05.2025 and 23.11.2024 respectively.
The grounds of detention reveal that Sheeraz was continuously and repeatedly involved in criminal activities, particularly his role to strengthen the terrorist infrastructure leading to loss of lives and property which include killing of non-local street vendors, labourers working in orchards, policemen who are off-duty or are unarmed and the aim of these killings is to create terror and a situation of insecurity, which is highly prejudicial to the security of J&K.
The grounds of detention of Ashraf reveal that right from the year 2022 till 2024, he was kept under preventive measures for his involvement in criminal/anti-national activities. It was found that the detenue was involved in the subversive activities and was working as OGW of proscribed outfit ‘LeT’. However, after his release, he was alleged not to have desisted himself from indulging in anti-national activities.
“Preventive detention is devised to afford protection to society. The object is not to punish a man for having done something but to intercept before he does it and to prevent him from doing so”, Justice Chowdhary said and recorded that there is no illegality or infirmity in the impugned orders of detention and dismissed both the pleas of these detenues by upholding their impugned orders of detention.
The court quashed the PSAs of Nisar Ahmad Bhagat of Chadoora, Budgam, Danish Farooq Bhat of Kulangam, Kupwara and Mushtaq Ahmad Beigh of Jahama, Kupwara. The court while quashing their PSAs said the detaining authority apart from few documents and material has not furnished details on the basis of which it formulated the opinion that normal law of land did not prove sufficient to dissuade him from indulging in activities prejudicial to the security of the State.
The court further added that the impugned detention order passed on vague grounds, verbatim copy of police dossier and stale grounds with no live link between the alleged activities in the year 2017 and the detention order passed in the year 2025, is found liable to be quashed on these counts.
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