Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 24 : High Court quashed eleven detention orders passed under the Public Safety Act and directed the authorities to release them.
Justice Sanjay Dhar and Justice V C Koul has quashed the PSAs of Shoib Aijaz Guru, Mohammad Latief, Shahid Shafi Sheikh, Gowhar Mohi ud Din Dar, Dawood Fayaz Zargar, Mohammad Azam Qureshi, Naveed Mudasir Wani, Gowhar Ayoub Fafoo, Junaid Zahoor Bangroo, Waqar Bashir Bhat and Imtiyaz Ahmad Dar. The trio were detained on 15.12.2023, 19.08.2019, 30.08.2022, 19.04.2023, 12.04.2023, 07.02.2023, 12.01.2023, 16.01.2023, 05.09.2024, 12.04.2024 and 22.06.2023 respectively by the detaining authorities concerned.
“The non-mentioning of this important fact that the detenue was already admitted to the bail in the FIR in question mentioned in the grounds of detention exhibits non-application of mind on the part of detaining authority. This shows that the detaining authority has not meticulously examined the record while passing the impugned order of detention which renders the same unsustainable in law”, Justice Dhar said in detenue Guru’s case.
While dealing with case of detetue-Dar, Justice Dhar said that the resort to preventive detention has to be taken only in cases where there is an urgent need to detain a person so as to prevent him from indulging in activities which are prejudicial to the maintenance of public order or security of the State.
“When there is unsatisfactory and unexplained delay in executing the order of detention, such delay would throw considerable doubt on the genuineness of the subjective satisfaction recorded by the detaining authority. This would lead to a legitimate inference that the detaining authority was not really and genuinely satisfied as regards the necessity for detaining the detenue”, reads the judgment.
The court held the PSA of detenue-Sheikh as illegal on the ground that he has not been supplied to whole material of detention record resulting into hampering him for making an effective representation before the Advisory Board, as a result whereof his case has been considered by the Advisory Board in the absence of his representation, as is clear from the detention record. “Thus, vital safeguards against arbitrary use of law of preventive detention have been observed in breach by the respondents in this case rendering the impugned order of detention unsustainable in law”, court recorded.
“If the grounds of detention are based on unsubstantiated allegations, the same along with the order of detention can be quashed as the detenu has not been given opportunity to make a viable representation either to detaining authority or to advisory board”, Justice Koul said
Justice Koul further added that irrelevant grounds, being taken into consideration for making the order of detention, are sufficient to vitiate it and one irrelevant ground is sufficient to vitiate the order as it is not possible to assess, in what manner and to what extent, that irrelevant ground operated on the mind of the appropriate authority.
The court as such allowed all the eleven petitions filed by these detenues against their PSAs and quashed the impugned detention orders with the directions to the authorities to release them from the preventive custody forthwith provided they are not required in connection with any other case.
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