Abiding SC decision on prohibitory orders, PSA against 26 individuals revoked in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar, January 11: Hearing out to the restriction imposed on internet in Jammu and Kashmir, the Supreme Court on Friday stated that the Jammu and Kashmir administration should revoked the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against 26 individuals which included a former Kashmir Bar association president, hours after the Supreme Court came down heavily on it over the Internet ban and imposition of Prohibitory orders in the valley.

 

The list included 11 people from North Kashmir, 14 from South Kashmir and Nazir Ahmed Ronga, an advocate and former Kashmir Bar council president, who hails from Srinagar district. These people were detained and booked under the PSA after August 5 last year when the Centre revoked special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two union territories. The detenues are likely to be released on Saturday as some of them are lodged in prisons located outside the union territory in places like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, they said.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had quashed the PSA of some of the individuals recently and passed some scathing remarks against the officials who had signed the orders. In a recent order, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, while quashing the PSA of Bilal Ahmad Mir, had said no documents were supplied to the detenu about the grounds on which he was detained.

Three-time chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who is a member of the current Lok Sabha, was also slapped with the PSA on September 17 after MDMK leader Vaiko had approached the Supreme Court with a habeas corpus petition seeking his production. Scores of other politicians including his son Omar Abdullah and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti have been kept under preventive detention.