The High Court has quashed the detention order of Muslim League Chairman, MasaratAlamBhat and directed the government to release him from preventive detention “if not required in any other case”. A bench of Justice Rashid Ali Dar quashed Bhat’s detention order under Public Safety Act (PSA) after hearing his counsel, Mian Abdul Qayoom, and the state counsel.
In his plea Bhat had challenged his 37th detention orderwhich was issued against him by District Magistrate on 13 November 2018 on thebasis of a dossier and other documents forwarded to him by the SSPBaramulla.
Citing Article 22(5) of Constitution of India and Section 13of J&K Public Safety Act, the court said these provisions guarantee twoimportant safeguards to the detainee – one he or she is informed of grounds onthe basis of which the detaining authority passes the detention order, andsecond the detainee is allowed to represent against his or her detentionimmediately after the detention order is made or executed.
The Constitutional and Statutory safeguards guaranteed tothe detainee, the court said, are meaningful only if the detainee is handedover the material referred to in the grounds of detention to derive thesubjective satisfaction that the preventive detention is necessary to preventhim from acting in the manner prejudicial to the security of the State ofpublic order
The court held that it should be ensured by the detainingauthority that the grounds of detention are not vague, sketchy and ambiguous soas to keep the detainee guessing about what really weighed with the detainingauthority to make the order. “The order of detention impugned does not sustainon the above referred grounds alone, therefore, other grounds projected in thepetition are not required to be dealt with,” the court said and quashed thedetention order of Bhat.