HC asks authorities to make arrangements for detained student to write Class 12 exams
‘Person under detention cannot be prevented from taking examination, unless there are pressing circumstances’
Srinagar: “A person under detention cannot be prevented from taking the examination, unless there are pressing circumstances,” J&K High Court said today while hearing a petition of a student from Sopore detained in District Jail, Bhaderwah Jammu.
Omer Akbar Mir, the petitioner from Mir Mohalla Brath Kalan Sopore Tehsil of Baramulla is one among the hundreds of persons detained because of the existing situation in Kashmir. Like so many political activists, Omar too had been shifted to a jail outside Kashmir as most of the detention centers and jails in the region are supposedly overcrowded.
Omar aspires to continue his education but is unable to sit in the exams as he is detained at District Jail, Bhaderwah Jammu, almost 300 kilometers away from his home.
If he is shifted from Bhaderwah to a jail in his home town of Baramulla, he can appear for the Class 12th examination commencing this week, his lawyer B A Tak submitted before the court. He accordingly prayed for shifting of Omar’s lodgment to Baramulla.
The detained student “has to appear in Class 12th examination for which revised date-sheet has been issued” the counsel said.
He submitted further “in case the petitioner (boy) is not permitted to appear in the examination, he would lose one year of his career”.
Upon verification, the lawyer representing the government authorities certified that the examination of the detenue is going to take place from this week of September.
Justice Sanjay Dhar, after hearing the case held that “a person under detention cannot be prevented from taking the examination, unless there are pressing issues which may even involve the security of the detenu itself”.
Uncovering the merit in the submissions of the counsel for Omar, the petitioner, Justice Dhar allowed the application.
“The respondents are directed to make requisite arrangements to facilitate appearance of the detenu in examination scheduled from 22nd of September, 2020,” he ordered and listed the petition for further hearing on 12th of October. He also asked the authorities to file the counter-affidavit by the date.
Rashid Paul is Associate Editor at Kashmir Images.
He can be reached at [email protected]
