Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Mar 25: High Court upheld the detention order of an Over Ground Worker (OWG) and quashed three detentions with the direction to the authorities to release the detenues.
Justice Sanjay Dhar has quashed the PSA of Bashir Ahmad Mir, Khursheed Ahmad Waza both residents of district Baramulla and Rouf Ahmad Mir of Anantnag district. The trio were detained by the concerned District Magistrates on 15.05.2023, 04.04.2024 and 28.02.2024 respectively.
Justice Dhar said while passing PSAs against these detenues, vital safeguards against arbitrary use of law of preventive detention have been observed in breach by the respondent-authorities rendering the impugned order of detention unsustainable in law.
“Furnishing of material including the FIR and statements of witnesses is a necessary requirement for enabling the detenue to make an effective representation against the order detention”, reads the judgment.
The court added that the slackness on the part of respondents to take a decision on the representation of the petitioner renders the impugned order of detention illegal. Failure to decide the representation of a detenue within a reasonable time in an expeditious manner strikes at the valuable right of a detenue emanating from the provisions of Section 13 of the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act.
For the foregoing reasons, the petitions are allowed and the impugned orders of detention are quashed. The detenues are directed to be released from the preventive custody forthwith provided they are not required in connection with any other case”, court directed.
The court has dismissed the plea of one Altaf Ahmad Rather of Baramulla and upheld his PSA. He was detained on 15.04.2023 in view of preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State.
Justice Dhar upheld his PSA after the authorities opposed his plea and submitted that the petitioner-Rather is an OWG of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned terrorist organization, which is operating in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The subjective satisfaction derived by the Detaining Authority on the basis of the previous conduct of the petitioner and the intelligence inputs available before it, cannot be a subject matter of judicial review in these proceedings. The contention of the petitioner in this regard is, therefore, without any merit”, the court said.
The court said that by no stretch of imagination, it can be stated that the incidents mentioned in the grounds of detention are stale or that there is any time lag between the said incidents and the impugned order of detention. “For the foregoing reasons, I do not find any merit in this petition. The same is dismissed accordingly”, the court concluded.
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