HC quashes PSA detention of 2 persons

Srinagar, Sep 14: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has ordered immediate release of two persons while quashing their detention under Public Safety Act (PSA).

Allowing his habeas corpus pleas, a bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar quashed the detention order the District Magistrate Shopian had passed on October 27, 2022 against Ghazi Ahmad Bhat from south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

“It was incumbent upon the detaining authority to inform the petitioner about his right to make a representation against the order of detention. Omission of the detaining authority in this regard renders the impugned order of detention unsustainable in law,” the court said.

The court quashed detention of Adil Fayaz Lone who was booked in terms of an order the District Magistrate Shopian had issued on  November 28, 2022.  “It needs no emphasis that the detenue cannot be expected to make an effective and purposeful representation which is his constitutional right guaranteed under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India, unless and until the material, on which the detention is based, is supplied to the detenue,” the court said.

“The failure on the part of detaining authority to supply the material renders the detention order illegal and unsustainable in law”.  The Court ordered that the two detainees be released forthwith from custody provided they were not required in any other cases.