The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh recently quashed a preventive detention order passed in April 2024 against a man, holding that the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) was invoked against him with less care than one would take while issuing a traffic violation ticket [Shabir Ahmed Dar V/s UT of J&K].

Justice Rahul Bharti found that the detention order was passed without any application of mind, rendering it illegal from the start.

“This Court has no hesitation in observing that the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, viz-a-viz the petitioner has been invoked by non-seriousness of standard with which even a motorist is not subjected to a routine traffic challan," the Court added.

It, therefore, ordered the release of the detenue, nearly two years after the detention order was passed.

”The preventive detention custody of the petitioner for whatsoever short remainder period the same is meant to be is held to be illegal right from its inception," the Court said.

The detention order was passed against one Shabir Ahmad by the District Magistrate, Anantnag, on April 20, 2024, under Section 8 of the PSA, based on a dossier submitted by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantnag.

The detention order was passed on allegations that Ahmad had links to a person accused in a criminal case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was alleged to have been in contact with an accused in the said FIR and active on social media platforms.

However, the Court noted that the detenue was neither named as an accused nor shown as an undertrial in the FIR and had earlier been released due to insufficient evidence.

The Court found nothing on the record to justify keeping him in preventive detention. It observed that the alleged subjective satisfaction of the District Magistrate regarding the justification of detention was merely a reproduction of the police dossier.

”To put it simply, the petitioner has been subjected to preventive detention custody just by a blank reference on the part of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), followed by equally bland application of mind on the part of the respondent No. 2-District Magistrate, Anantnag," it said.

The Court, therefore, declared the detention illegal from its inception and ordered Ahmad's release.

The petitioner (Ahmad) was represented by advocate Shabir Ahmad Dar.

[Read Judgment]