Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): In a significant ruling, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh upheld the main accused's preventive detention in the case of lynching of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) in Srinagar's Nowhatta area in 2017. The court has also dismissed the accused's plea challenging the order of detention on several grounds.
The court of Justice M A Chowdhary, on Wednesday, after hearing the arguments from the petitioner and respondents, dismissed the plea while recording "that the same is found devoid of any merit." "While reviewing the evidence that forms the basis of the detaining authority's subjective satisfaction, this Court would not function as a court of appeals and find fault with the satisfaction on the grounds that another perspective was feasible based on the evidence before the detaining authority," Justice Chowdhary noted.
In his petition, Imran Nabi Wani claimed that he was taken into preventive custody under Public Safety Act in terms of the order of detention passed by the District Magistrate Srinagar on September 8, 2022. "In the grounds of detention formulated by the detaining authority showed that I was found to be the main accused in DySP lynching case at Nowhatta."
However, the petitioner argued that the detaining authority overlooked the fact that he had been granted bail in the lynching case. He also contested the ruling on the grounds that the accusations against him were "imprecise" and that he hadn't engaged in any "new action" since 2017. The petitioner further alleged that the detaining authority simply relied on the police dossier and had not independently prepared the detention grounds.
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The court, meanwhile, pointed out that the preventive detention of a person already in jail for a substantive offence is well established in the law. "Preventive detention of such people is often not mandated, but it is permissible if there are strong indications that the person would be freed on bond, following an exoneration or conviction for the main offence."
The court also noted that the justification for the imprisonment and the detaining authority's satisfaction were based on evidence showing Wani's involvement in the DySP lynching case. The court further highlighted the fact that "preventive custody is not punitive but simply preventative in nature, aimed at safeguarding society."
Interestingly, in the grounds of detention, it has been claimed that during the intervening night of June 22 and 23, 2017, a mob lynched to death a police officer with the rank of deputy superintendent of police named Mohammad Ayoub Pandit in retaliation for J&K State's accession to the Union of India while chanting anti-Union of India slogans.
It has also been revealed that a security wing police officer was stationed at Jamia Masjid Srinagar in anticipation of a sizable gathering there on the eve of Shab-e-Qadr to oversee the personnel stationed there for the purpose of frisking. Detenue and other anti-national elements attacked the officer, stole his service gun, and beat him mercilessly until he lost consciousness and passed out right there.
The Court also observed that the accused individuals "did not stop there but inhumanely dragged the dead body of the deceased out of the area next to the mosque, tore his clothes, and left the body without clothes and other belongings." In this regard, FIR 51/2017 was filed in Police Station Nowhatta according to Sections 148, 392, 341, 302, 149 RPC and 13 Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
