SRINAGAR (JAMMU AND KASHMIR): A youth from north Kashmir's Baramulla district has been "illegally" jailed under the stringent Public Safety Act for over a year despite release orders by the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High court with the court now summoning Deputy Commissioner Baramulla over the violation of court orders.
While hearing a writ petition of the jailed youth Muzamil Manzoor War submitted through his father, the High Court justice Rahul Bharti stated, "(A) very disturbing scenario has been presented before this Court which cannot be left to be dealt with in a routine manner." The high court has summoned DC Baramulla, who approved extension of War's detention, to the court on May 29 and present War before the court.
The contentious Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA), which permits persons to be held without charge for up to two years, was the legal basis for War's arrest in 2020. However in Feb. last year, the High Court quashed his detention while ordering his immediate release. Despite the court orders, the then District Magistrate, Baramulla again approved the petitioner's detention under Section 8(a) of the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978 on Aug. 17 last year.
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According to the High Court order published on May 12, 2023, "The quashment of the preventive detention order of the petitioner earned a consequent direction from this Court unto the writ-respondents of WP(Crl) No. 146/2020 to release the petitioner forthwith if not required in any other case." Whiel pulling up the district administration Baramulla over the youth's continuous arrest despite court orders, the High Court said that the order approving the detention was due to “non-application of mind on the part of the District Magistrate, Baramulla”.
Despite the detention order being quashed, the petitioner is still detained at the Central Jail in Agra. The petitioner and his father have approached the court through this writ petition to ask for his release and compensation for the continuous illegal custody that amounts to wrongful incarceration. In light of the gravity of the case and the violation of the petitioner's fundamental rights protected by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the court gave notice to the District Magistrate of Baramulla and ordered the DM to bring the petitioner before the court on the next date of hearing, where the District Magistrate is also required to be present in person.
Since the eruption of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s, the PSA has a history of allegedly being used arbitrarily. Since the Abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the government has increasingly invoked the PSA to jail journalists and mainstream politicians, including three chief ministers. The government initially used the PSA to target militants, stone-pelters, and separatists.
Pertinently, the Kashmir-based news website The Kashmir Walla's editor-in-chief, Fahad Shah, had his PSA detention order invalidated by the high court in April of this year because the justifications for his custody were "vague and bald assertions." However, he too still remains in jail.
