The High Court of Jammu Kashmir quashed two orders under the Public Safety Act, (PSA) emphasizing that a detention order mirroring the dossier indicates a “non-application of mind by the detaining authority.”
Dismissing detention order (No 50/DMK/PSA/2022), dated June 25, 2022, against Shabir Ahmad Khanday of Kulgam, a bench of Justice M A Chowdhary referred to a Supreme Court judgment, stating that the “liberty of a subject is a serious matter and is not to be trifled with in this casual, indifferent, and routine manner.”
Citing a case titled ‘Jai Singh & Ors vs State of Jammu & Kashmir’ (AIR 1985 SC 764), the court noted that “if the detention order is a verbatim copy of the dossier, it speaks about non-application of mind by the detaining authority” and ordered Khanday’s immediate release unless required in connection with other case(s).
The court also annulled detention order (No. 02/DMP/PSA/22) dated April 7, 2022, against Aamir Amin Dar, stating that when a detention order has been quashed by the court, the grounds of said detention order should not be considered for passing a fresh order, and ordered Amir’s immediate release unless required in any other case.