Srinagar, Oct 22: The High Court Friday quashed the detention of a man from central Kashmir’s Budgam district who was booked under the Public safety Act (PSA) in the year 2020.
Quashing the detention of Gulzar Ahmad Bhat of WarporaBudgam, a bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar said further custody of the detainee should be regulated in accordance with the orders of the court of the competent jurisdiction in connection with a criminal case registered against him.
Bhat was booked under the PSA in terms of an order dated 14 February 2020 passed by the District Magistrate Budgam.
Bhat, through his counsel WajidHasib, had challenged the detention order on various grounds including the one that he was already in custody in connection with an FIR registered with the Police Station Budgam and the detaining authority had not spelt out the compelling reasons for detaining him under preventive detention laws.
“There has been non-application of mind on the part of the detaining authority as the grounds of detention are more or less a Xerox copy of the dossier,” Hasib argued.
“In the instant case, it is clear from the record that the dossier and the grounds of detention contain almost similar wording which shows that there has been non-application of mind on the part of the detaining authority,” the court said, adding the detention order was unsustainable.
The court quashed the detention order citing the Supreme Court order that the ground of detention and the dossier, if in similar language, go on to show that there had been non-application of mind on the part of the detaining authority.
“It is also a settled position of law that a person involved in a criminal case can be detained under the provisions of preventive detention laws provided there are compelling circumstances for doing so. Otherwise the order of detention becomes unsustainable,” the court said.