Srinagar: J&K High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of National Conference (NC) general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Justice Sindhu Sharma hearing the plea of Sagar through video-conferencing reserved the judgment on his writ petition filed through his counsel Shuja ul Haque.
The order was reserved after hearing the pleas by the lawyer of the detained NC leader and the senior additional advocate general of the state.
The state had kept the senior politician under PSA, the preventive detention law after keeping him in prison for almost six months under the Criminal Procedure Code. The elderly leader was one among the scores of politicians and civil society members put behind bars after the central government ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 in August 2019 and sliced it into to two centrally administered territories.
The detenue had also filed an application through his lawyer for changing his place of lodgment in view of the COVID-19 pandemic or setting him free on bail.
He prayed that for putting under house arrest and quarantined at his home so as to escape exposure to the killer pathogen of novel coronavirus.
On 20th of May, the court had granted “last and final opportunity” of 10 days to the government for filing the counter-affidavit in Sagar’s case. It had also had asked the government to consider his bail application in view of his frail health.
As per the previous court directions, Sagar’s detention records were produced before the court today and after perusal the judge reserved the judgment on the matter.
The magisterial PSA dossier against Sagar reads “I am satisfied that Ali Mohammad Sagar was prejudiced to maintenance of peace.”
As per the grounds of detention order: DMS/PSA/145, 2019 dated 05-02-2020, Sagar had raised the voice against the “unilateral act” of Government of India on Kashmir besides Article 370 and Article 35-A, that governed its relation with the union and autonomy of the region.
