Srinagar: The J&K High Court on Monday quashed five Public Safety Act (PSA) detention orders because the grounds of detention were “vague and ambiguous, irrelevant and non-existent”.
Justice Tashi Rabstan while overturning the detentions held that detention in preventive custody on the basis of such vague and ambiguous grounds cannot be justified.
The judge said, “Even if one of the grounds or reasons which led to the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority is non-existent or misconceived or irrelevant, the order of detention would be invalid.”
The judge recorded that there must be live and proximate link between the grounds of detention alleged by detaining authority and the avowed purpose of detention, and in appropriate cases it is possible to assume that the link is snapped if there is a long and unexplained delay between the date of the order of detention and the arrest of the detenue.
Justice Tashi while striking down the PSA orders said, “The inclusion of an irrelevant and obscure ground is an infringement of the rights of the detenue and thus an invasion of the constitutional rights which entitles a detainee to approach the court for relief.”
He also observed that failure on part of the detaining authority to supply material, relied on at the time of making detention order, to the detenue renders the detention order illegal and unsustainable.
The court on this basis asked the government to immediately release Mohammad Shafi Yatoo of Baramulla, Mohammad Akram Najar of Kupwara, Morifat Ahmad Mir of Budgam, Mohammad Iqbal Dar of Kulgam, and Sajad Ahmad Dar of Srinagar.
It is pertinent to mention that in the year 2019, 601 persons were detained under Public Safety Act, 367 of them detained after the August 5 lockdown.

NUSRAT SIDIQ