Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has quashed detention under Public Safety Act (PSA) against journalist Peerzada Shah Fahad and two other persons and asked authorities to release them forthwith if not required in any other case.
Fahad, editor of the Kashmir Walla, an online portal, was arrested in February 2022 following a report regarding an encounter in Pulwama. He was later booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
“From the perusal of the statutory provision, it is emphatically clear that maintenance of public order and Security and Sovereignty of the country are two distinct expressions and have different connotations and are demarcated on the basis of gravity and cannot be used simultaneously which clearly proves beyond any shadow of doubt that the detaining authority has not applied its mind while passing the order of detention” a bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal said and quashed detention order against Fahad, passed by District Magistrate Srinagar on March 11 last year against him.
The court also quashed detention against Naseer Ahmad Dar of Dar Mohalla Bunderkund Ganderbal who was taken into preventive detention after District Magistrate Ganderbal passed an order under PSA in this regard on October 21, 2021.
Meanwhile, a bench of Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi quashed detention under PSA against Umair Mushtaq Rather of Gopalpora, Sheikh Mohalla Kulgam who was detained by virtue of an order passed by District Magistrate, Kulgam on June 20, 2022.