New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday sought response from the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration on a plea of former Union minister and senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz's wife challenging his house arrest since August 5 last year.
A bench headed by Justices Arun Mishra issued notices to the Centre and the J-K administration asking them to respond by second week of July to the plea of Mumtazunnisa Soz, wife of the octogenarian leader.
Mumtazunnisa has also sought the production of veteran leader before the court and the quashing of the house arrest order.
The apex court has refused to hear the petition next week and has shifted it to July second week.
Challenging the detention order passed by the Government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Mumtazunnisa Soz has filed habeas corpus petition in the apex court for the production of her husband before the court.
Seeking quashing of the detention order, the plea said that ten months have passed since his detention started, and he is yet to be informed of his grounds of detention.
"All efforts by him to obtain a copy of the detention order(s) have been of no avail due to the illegal, arbitrary exercise of powers by Jammu and Kashmir government. His detention is wholly contrary and perverse to the constitutional safeguards laid down under Article 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India, as well as the law on preventive detention. The detention is also in stark contravention of the statutory scheme of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, under which the detention has purportedly been made," the plea said.
It said that Prof Saifuddin Soz is an octogenarian, a former MP, and a law-abiding peaceful Indian citizen.
She had alleged that till date the reasons for the detention have not been supplied to them and they are unable to challenge the arrest under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978.
"He has not committed any breach of peace, neither has he disturbed the public tranquillity nor is he likely to do any wrongful act that will result in a breach of the peace or cause any disturbance of public tranquillity," the plea said.
"However, Prof Soz has been detained and put under house arrest since August 2019 and the reasons for detention and arrest have never been informed till date, thereby making his detention not only illegal, malafide and unconstitutional but also extremely appalling," it added.
The petition claimed that the authority making the orders of detention did not communicate to Soz the grounds on which the orders have been made and no copy of the detention order was provided despite repeated attempts.
Also Read:Wife of J-K Congress leader Soz moves SC against his house detention
