Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Srinagar, today strongly condemned the slapping of 37th detention order under Public Safety Act (PSA on incarcerates Muslim League chairman Masarat Alam Bhat, terming it a ‘violation of human rights, blatant breach of fundamental rights and also a misuse of the power under the Act.’
“The Bar Association feels that at a time, when the Letters Patent Appeal filed by the detainee against the dismissal of his Habeas Corpus Petition filed against the 36th order of detention was pending before the Division Bench of the High Court, passing of yet another order of detention, without there being any fresh material available with the detaining authority, besides being mala fide, is a sheer abuse of authority and power and deserves to be denounced by one and all,” a spokesman of the HCBA, in a statement today, said.
“The Bar Association also condemns the shifting of 15 Kashmiri detainees from District Jail Kathua to District Jail Karnal, Haryana, by the state government,” the spokesman said.
“The Bar Association also castigates the filing of the charge-sheet against Asiya Andrabi, Fahmeeda Sofi and Nahida Nasreen, in a court at Delhi and terms the same as an act of vendetta, as also politically motivated, as all the three women activists are innocent but have been arrested and detained in high security wards of Tihar Jail, to force them to succumb to the pressure tactics adopted by Government of India and its agencies, which is highly deplorable,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat Rifat Fatima in a statement termed the extended incarceration of the party leaders as “oppressive.” “New Delhi is using all means to keep the party leaders jailed as long as they can. The charge-sheet filed by the NIA against the DeM leaders is baseless and flimsy. It is a ploy to prolong the incarceration of Baaji Shaiba and other DeM leaders. Same is being done with Masrat Alam Bhat against whom PSAs are being slapped one after the another,” she added.