The High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the detention of a Central Kashmir man under the Public Safety Act and ordered his immediate release from the jail.
The detenue Muhammad Saleem Dar son of Ali Muhammad Dar, a resident of Aripanthan Budgam as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust had been arrested in April 2022 and currently has been lodged at Kot Bhalwal Jail Jammu.
The Counsel for the detenue Advocate Bashir Ahmed Tak submitted that Dar had been implicated in a case registered against him in 2003 on the grounds that he was a threat to the security of the state.
The Counsel for the petitioner stated that on a number of occasions, the State machinery tried to implicate the petitioner in false and frivolous cases, even one of the detention orders bearing no. DHB/PSA/41 of 2005 dated 23.01.2006 has been revoked by the State Advisory Board on 24.03.2006. The material and the vital facts of acquittal in these FIRs, and revocation of earlier detention orders have not been placed before the detaining authority which would have influenced the mind and subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority.
He further argues that the detention order is passed in a total vague and arbitrary manner as such, deserved to be quashed.
The court of Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul observed that the learned counsel for the petitioner has rightly stated that the detaining authority has not followed the Constitutional and statutory procedural safeguards as envisaged under Article 22 (5) of the Constitution.
“The grounds of detention are vague and non-existent in the eye of law,” the Justice observed and before disposing off the petition, quashed the detention Order vide number DMB/PSA/ 06 of 2022 dated 15.04.2022, passed by District Magistrate, Budgam and directed Superintendent Jail concerned, to release the detenu forthwith, provided he is not required in any other case. [KNT]