Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 25: High Court has quashed three detention orders and directed the authorities to release them.
Justice Sanjeev Kumar quashed the PSA of one Adil Mushtaq Mir Baghi-e-Sunder Payeen, Maidan Pora, Chattabal. He was detained by District Magistrate Srinagar on 4.11.2022 with a view to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of security of State.
Justice Kumar noted that the Court while entertaining the petition and issuing notice to the respondents for filing the reply affidavit, also stayed the execution of the impugned Order, on December 6, 2022 and the petitioner-Mir is, therefore, enjoying his freedom due to inability of the respondents to execute the detention order in view of the interim direction passed by this Court.
The respondents have also not brought to notice of the Court any incriminating or objectionable activity of the petitioner after stay of the impugned order of detention by this Court. He has already been set at liberty in the FIR by the Special Judge Designated under NIA Act, Srinagar, on bail and is regularly appearing before the trial court.
“In these circumstances, there could be no reason or justification with the respondents not to execute the impugned order of detention for a period of one month, despite the availability of the petitioner. It is not the case of the respondents that the petitioner was absconding or that a process for his apprehension had been issued by the Detaining Authority or the police”, Justice Kumar recorded.
The court with these reasons held the impugned Order of detention as not tenable in law as the same has remained unexecuted for almost one and half year. Court said there is nothing on record that during this period, the petitioner has indulged in any anti-national or objectionable activities.
The court has however clarified, that the quashing of present PSA shall come in the way of the respondents to pass fresh order of detention, if the petitioner has after the issuance of the impugned order detention indulged in any anti-national or objectionable activity, necessitating his preventive detention.
Justice M A Chowdhary has quashed detention orders of detenue-Fareed Ahmad Chouhan of Trehgam and Sahil Farooq Mir of Chakoora. Both were detained by the District Magistrates of District Kupwara and Pulwama on 24.06.2022 and 25.10.2023 respectively.
Court while quashing both the PSAs said the requirement of law is that whole of the record, on which the detention order is based, has to be made available to the detenue in the language that he understands and there is nothing like execution report on the record to suggest that material relied upon to base detention has been furnished to the detenu in his language, so as to make an effective representation as such the failure on the part of the detaining authority to supply material renders detention illegal and unsustainable.
“The non-application of mind by the detaining authority is also writ large in view of the fact that the detention order has been framed in a manner that it has not applied its mind but has acted upon the dossier, prepared by the Sr. Superintendent of Police Awantipora only”, reads the judgment.
With these reasons, the court allowed both the petitions and set aside the impugned orders of detention with the direction to the authorities to release the detenues from the preventive custody forthwith provided they are not required in connection with any other case.
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