National Conference on Tuesday expressed strong resentment against the decision of the State Administrative Council (SAC) to delete a provision in the Public Safety Act (PSA) that barred authorities from lodging J&K residents in jails outside the state.
Addressing a party meeting, NC general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar said this decision would send incarcerated under-trials away from their families and would further add to the sense of isolation when all efforts should be made to build bridges of reconciliation with the people, according to a statement issued by the party.
“This is an unfortunate and unacceptable decision that National Conference opposes unequivocally and unambiguously. We appeal to the Honourable Governor to reconsider this decision of the SAC. The previous Omar Abdullah led government in 2011 made specific amendments to the Public Safety Act (PSA) which redefined the age and scope of the Act’s jurisdiction viz-a-viz minors, reduced the period of incarceration from one year to three months and also reduced the incarceration period in cases related to the state’s security and law and order from two years to six months. The J&K Public Safety Ordinance 2011 maintained that no resident of J&K detained under the PSA could be shifted to a jail outside the state,” Sagar said.