Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 27: The State High Court today quashed the detention of Muslim League chairman Masrat Aalam Bhat and directed the authorities to release him forthwith from the preventive custody.
Holding the detention of Aalam illegal, the Court of Justice MH Attar today quashed the detention passed by District Magistrate Budgam on September 2016. “By issuance of writ of certiorari, order of detention bearing No. 85/DMB/PSA/2016 dated 1.9.2016, passed by the respondent No.2 is quashed”, court directed with further direction to respondents to release the Aalam forthwith from preventive custody.
Court in its elaborated judgment said the impugned detention order is rendered illegal on yet another ground and that is bail application of the detenue was rejected by the court of competent jurisdiction as such he continued to languish in the State custody. “The detaining authority, in this fact situation, could not assume that there is every likelihood of the detenue being released on bail”, read the order.
Court said the democratic society not only swear but live by democratic values and principles. Even in the face of extreme provocations, the laws of the land are to be implemented. “Laws possess unique quality, in as much as, they, even at times, protect those who break them. Thus, they prove to be better than many human beings”, Justice Attar said.
Court also added “it is true that breach of laws adversely affect the rights of other members of the society, for whose benefit those laws are framed and when a person commits an offence, he is being tried in a court of law and on successful completion of trial, he is punished in accordance with law by the court of competent jurisdiction”.
“The punishment inflicted, thus, acts as a deterrent for other members of the society to commit the offence. Preventive detention laws are not operating in the manner the other criminal laws are operating. Preventing laws arm the State and its authorities to take a person into preventive custody. This is being done to achieve twin purpose, viz, to prevent an individual, who is taken into preventive custody, from committing an offence and to ensure that the members of the society are protected from the adverse impact of the apprehended criminal acts of that individual”, read the order.
State Counsel Asif Maqbool while opposing the petition submitted that the activities of the detenue have, all along been of such a great magnitude, which has the potential of adversely affecting the security of the State. He also referred to the court the grounds of detention to substantiate his arguments and also relied upon a judgment of Supreme Court for dismissal of the instant petition.
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