Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 28: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of a Kulgam resident under the Public Safety Act (PSA), remarking that the District Magistrate had acted as a “Post Office” of the police dossier without applying his independent mind.
Justice Rahul Bharti, while allowing petition, set aside detention order No. 20/DMK/PSA/2024 dated September 10, 2024, passed by the District Magistrate, Kulgam against Rayees Ahmad Thoker of Shounch, Kulgam.
Thoker, represented by Advocate Wajid Mohammad Haseeb, was booked in two FIRs of 2019 and 2020 but had already been granted bail. Despite this, the Superintendent of Police, Kulgam, recommended his detention, projecting him as an active Over Ground Worker (OGW). Acting on the dossier, the District Magistrate ordered custody under PSA.
The High Court observed that the detention order’s wording-“on the basis of grounds placed before me by the Superintendent of Police, Kulgam”-made it clear that the Magistrate had abdicated his duty of independent application of mind. Justice Bharti said, such practice was “antithetical to law” and declared the detention “illegal from inception.”
The High Court directed that Thoker, presently in Central Jail, Srinagar, be released forthwith unless required in any other case.
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