Srinagar, Aug 31: The family members of senior pro-freedom leader, Dr Muhammad Qasim Fakhtoo have filed a contempt petition against the State Government in the High Court to challenge its decision of detaining him in Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) Humhama.
 In the petition, the brother-in-law of Dr Qasim stated that the High Court on August 28, 2004 had directed the Superintendent of Central Jail not to shift the convict to any other Central or district jail within or outside the state. However, the Court had directed the State to approach the Trial Court for seeking amendment or revocation of the order.
 The petition states that the Government without honouring the Court order shifted the under trial from Central jail Srinagar to JIC Humhama. The petitioner termed ‘shifting as illegal’ and said ‘the government had no authority’ to shift any under trial to any other jail without seeking order from the trial court.
 “The subsidiary jail Humhama is basically an interrogation centre without any facility. Besides, the under trial has been kept in a solitary confinement without any medical aid and diet.”
 The petitioner said, “The under-trial has been shifted to JIC under a deep rooted conspiracy hatched to kill him in the solitary confinement.”
 The petitioner prayed that the contempt proceedings should be initiated against the contemnors for violating court orders. Besides, they should be directed to shift the under trial to Central jail Srinagar. According to the petition the contemnors are Financial Commissioner, Samuel Verghese, the Additional Director General prisons, M A Anjum and the Superintendent Central Jail Dinesh Singh.
 Meanwhile, the court has directed the government to submit its response regarding the petition at the ending of this month.
 Dr Faktoo has achieved the distinction of being the longest serving convict of Kashmir with over 16-years of detention.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST