SRINAGAR The National Conference leader, Justice (R) Hasnain Masoodi, has said that, on one hand, Indian government is taking all possible steps to combat the COVID-19 challenge and, on the other, its insensitivity to the plight of detainees under draconian Public Safety Act is deplorable. Justice Hasnain Masoodi in a statement issued in Srinagar said that detainees from Jammu and Kashmir mostly in early twenties and some more than sixty years of age are lodged in Ambedkar Nagar, Lukhnow, Allahabad, Agra, Tihar and other jails of India, hundreds of miles away from their homes and their kith and kin. “The Corona or Covid 19 crisis adversely affects their basic human rights and rights as detenues. The detainees are held without charge or trial but on a mere suspicion, in most of the cases unfounded and are not denuded of all their at the prison gate,” Justice Hasnain said. “There are authoritative judicial pronouncements commanding the government to lodge the detenue in a jail nearest to the ordinary place of residence so that the relations visit a detenue after regular intervals and a detenue is not exposed to mental trauma because of absence of social interaction. In case of detenues from Jammu and Kashmir the direction is violated with impunity,” he said. “The Corona crisis has further compounded the plight of detenues as because of restrictions on traffic and travel, the relations would no more be in position to visit a detenue and a valuable right violated. It is shocking that though the government has directed release of even convicts serving sentence, it is insensitive to plight of [Kashmiri] detenues held without charge on mere suspicion of endangering peace,” he added.—KMS
