The High Court in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir has quashed seven detention orders passed under draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) and directed the authorities to release the detainees.
According to Kashmir media service, the court has quashed the detention orders of Suhail Ahmad Butt of Srinagar, Altaf Ahmad Butt of Kupwara, Farooq Ahmad Khan of Bandipora, Shamim Ahmad Wani of Islamabad, Mohammad Khumani Dar of Pulwama, Tanveer Ahmad Malik of Islamabad and Imtiyaz Ahmad Dar of Kulgam.
“It needs no emphasis, that (detainee) cannot be expected to make a meaningful exercise of his Con-stitutional and Statutory rights guaranteed under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India and Section 13 of the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978, unless and until the material on which detention order is based, is supplied to him,” said a bench of Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul while quashing the detention order passed by Deputy Commissioner Pulwama against one Waseem Ahmad Pandith of Karimabad Pulwama on April 7, 2022.
“It is only after (detainee) has all the said material available that he can make an effort to convince detaining authority and thereafter the Government that their apprehensions vis-à-vis his activities are baseless and misplaced,” the court said. “If (detainee) is not supplied the material, on which the detention order is based, he will not be in a position to make an effective representation against his detention order. The failure on the part of the detaining authority to supply the material, relied at the time of making the detention order to the (detainee), renders the detention order illegal and unsustainable.”—KMS
