Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 23: The Government today slapped Public Safety Act (PSA) against hardline Hurriyat Conference leader, Masrat Alam Bhat, and shifted him to Kotbalwal Jail in Jammu.
Masrat, who was released last month 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 a 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 yesterday. The court had reserved its orders on the bail plea till Saturday 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. He has been booked under PSA 26 times since 1990.
Police had registered a case against Masrat, 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.
Masrat is the only one to have been arrested so far in the matter. The PSA allows detention of a person for a minimum of six months and maximum two years without trial.
Masrat was last arrested in 2010 for leading the summer agitation in which around 120 people were killed in police firing on protesters.
Geelani denounced booking of Masrat under PSA and his shifting to the Kotbalwal Jail. He has called for peaceful protest demonstration after the Friday prayers tomorrow and complete shutdown on April 25 against this.
Geelani in a statement said that Masrat is facing threat to his life in Kotbalwal Jail as the atmosphere of that Jail is hostile for him. He said that TV channels ran a media trial against him and the under pressure Mufti led Government surrendered before the BJP and detained Masrat under PSA.
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