J&K Man Jailed For 10 Months Over "Social Acceptability, Tendency For Anti-National Activities" Gets Court Relief

Can a person be jailed for his social acceptability and allegation of "tendency towards anti-national activities"? In Jammu and Kashmir, a man has spent 10 months in jail under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) for his social acceptability and the apprehension of police that the man has "shown tendency towards anti-national activities and could potentially be used as a conduit by terrorists'."

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has quashed the Public Safety Act against Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, 10 months after he was detained under PSA and lodged in a jail near 300 km away from his home. The court has termed the grounds of Shah's detention as "vague and bereft of necessary particulars."

Shah, a resident of Shahlatoo village of Shopian district, was detained in December last year. In the detention order, the district magistrate has cited the police dossier and intelligence reports as grounds for detention under the Public Safety Act.

"Whereas, it has been reported by the Senior Superintendent of Police Shopian that the subject namely shri Mushtaq Ahmad shah as per intelligence reports has shown tendency towards anti- national activities of his locality and other parts of the district Shopian,'' reads the first para of the dossier.

To justify invoking PSA, the district magistrate quotes a police dossier that Shah "know it well that the routine laws of the land shall not be enforced upon him due to various tangible reasons."

The DM goes on to say that Shah's social acceptability in his locality could be a potential threat.

"Whereas, it is further mentioned in the dossier that the subject enjoys social acceptability in his locality, particularly among youth and could potentially be used as a conduit by terrorist outfits to build underground networks or influence the environment,'' reads the detention order.

The dossier further says that "if he (Shah) is not stopped at this stage, there is risk that he may instigate the youth towards anti-national and terrorist activities during private gathering and informal discussions."

Justice Rajnesh Oswal, in an order held that the detention of Shah under PSA has violated the constitutional safeguard under Article 22 (5).

"The vagueness of grounds of detention strikes at the root of the subjective satisfaction of detaining authority thereby vitiating the order of detention. On this ground alone, the impugned order of detention is liable to be set aside,'' reads the order by the high court.

The court said that allegations against Shah have been bereft of necessary particulars. The court said that the authorities had neither identified the persons or organisations with extremist leanings with whom Shah was allegedly in contact and attempted to influence them.

The court has ordered that Shah be released forthwith if he is not required in any other case.

There have been allegations of misuse of PSA in Jammu and Kashmir. Under the stringent act, a person can be jailed for two years without a trial. Hundreds of people have been booked under the law. Recently, the high court termed the detention of a man under PSA as "sheer abuse of preventive detention jurisdiction" in Jammu and Kashmir.