After a year in jail, HC quashes PSA of Anantnag man arrested for another’s crime

September 13, 2025 by News Desk

The High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh has set aside the Public Safety Act (PSA) detention of a man from Anantnag, observing that he had been held under “mistaken identity.”

Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, while delivering the judgment, quashed the detention order issued by the District Magistrate Anantnag on April 20 last year against Imtiyaz Ahmad Ganie, a resident of Chee, Anantnag.

Ganie had challenged the detention, stating that he was arrested by Anantnag police on April 15 last year without any cause and subsequently shifted to Kot Bhalwal Jail, Jammu, on April 20, 2024, where he remained under preventive detention for over 17 months.

The court found no basis in the authorities’ records or affidavits to justify the claim of “mistaken identity.” It noted that Ganie had been detained in connection with a case involving another individual with a similar name.

“The detenue is not involved in the criminal case which formed the basis of the detention order. The detaining authority has sought support for its decision from material that does not pertain to the petitioner. The very foundation of the preventive detention, therefore, collapses by default,” the court observed.

Holding that the order reflected “non-application of mind” by the detaining authority, the bench ruled that Ganie’s detention was unsustainable in law. Accordingly, the PSA order was quashed, bringing an end to his 17-month incarceration.