SC asks Centre if it plans to extend Mehbooba Mufti's detention

The habeas corpus petition was filed by Mehbooba Mufti'S daughter Iltija. Mehbooba Mufti was put in detention following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019.

New Delhi: The Supreme court today asked Centre how long it proposes to extend the detention of former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti and on what ground.

The court was hearing a plea filed by her daughter Iltija Mufti who had challenged the detention of her mother Mehbooba Mufti since august last year after scrapping of Article 370.

The court asked the centre to reply on the maximum period for which a person can be detained.

Counsel for Mufti informed the court today that she has not been allowed to meet her family which the court also did not find appropriate and asked the centre to respond over it. However, the court refused to allow her to attend party meetings and asked her to approach the concerned authorities for it.

Mufti has amended her plea and has sought shifting of her residence and to allow people to meet. Centre has already filed response to the original plea and will file another affidavit on the amended plea now.

The court will hear the matter again on October 15.

The matter was last heard 7 months back but had not provided any relief. Today it came before Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul led bench.

In July, Mufti's detention under Public Safety Act (PSA) was extended by three months.

Mufti and many other leaders of Kashmir, including Farooq Abdullah, were put in detention following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that accorded special status to the erstwhile state.

Mehbooba was taken into preventive custody on the intervening night of August 4-5, 2019, the day the government revoked Article 370. Six months later, she was booked under the PSA. According to the PSA dossier, Mehbooba was 'daddy's girl' and believed in 'cheap' politics.

Earlier, the former J-K CM's detention was extended on May 5 for three months. Farooq, and son Omar Abdullah, were released from detention in March.