Jammu: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday appeared before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, urging it to take a humanitarian view and transfer all undertrial prisoners from the Union Territory who are currently lodged in jails outside J&K.
The former chief minister questioned why such detainees, apprehended before and after 2019 “on the basis of suspicion”, continue to languish in prisons when offenders like Asaram and Gurmeet Ram Rahim have been released on bail or parole despite their involvement in heinous crimes.
In her public interest litigation (PIL), Mehbooba Mufti urged the court to order that these prisoners be brought back to J&K unless authorities provide specific written reasons justifying their continued detention outside the Union Territory.
Speaking to reporters after appearing in the court of the Chief Justice of the High Court in Jammu, the PDP chief asserted that her plea was filed out of “compulsion and humanity for hundreds of poor families who have suffered for years without justice”.
“People like the rapist Asaram, and the one Gurmeet who calls himself by the holy name Ram Rahim — if he is a rapist and also a murderer whom you can prosecute and even release, then why are the prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir, whose cases have not yet been proven, not being released as if the judicial process itself is their punishment?” she told reporters here.
She strongly pleaded before the court in favour of the undertrials and said, “See, when every door to justice closes, for me this court is the last door.
“This is for those poor people who were picked up before 2019, and especially on the basis of suspicion after 2019. They have been languishing in different jails across the country for the last six-seven years. We do not know what their condition is; we know nothing about them.”
She said most of these prisoners belonged to poor families who cannot afford to travel to meet their kin or fight their legal battles. “They have children, wives and elderly parents at home. They do not have enough money to go and meet them, so how will they fight their cases? How will they go to court if they cannot even visit them?” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti said her petition was a plea to restore a sense of justice and dignity for those who are not convicted yet continue to suffer prolonged incarceration.
“I have filed this public petition thinking of the poor who must fight their own cases because the court is a temple of justice,” she said.
“I hope that all the undertrials against whom no crime has been proven will be brought back to Jammu and Kashmir jails so that they can meet their families and fight their cases.”
Mehbooba Mufti urged the High Court to take a “humanitarian view” of the matter rather than confining it to technical aspects.
“My request to the court is that this be looked at from a humanitarian angle, not a technical one. They should direct the government to bring them here, and until then, order that their families be given Rs 20,000–25,000 when they have to travel to prisons elsewhere in the country to fight the cases,” she said.
After the hearing, the court posted the matter for the next date.
“We were given another date,” Mehbooba Mufti said.
“When we are left without hope at all other doors, we come to this door. About 3,000–3,500 people are in jails who are poor, helpless, and cannot fight their own cases — that is why I have come to fight their cause,” she added.
Mehbooba Mufti has filed a petition before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on October 26, seeking directions for the immediate transfer of all undertrial prisoners from the Union territory who are currently lodged in jails outside J&K.
The plea urges that such prisoners be brought back to local jails unless the authorities present case-specific, written reasons showing compelling necessity to keep them outside J&K, and that such cases be subjected to quarterly judicial review.
The PIL also pleaded before the court to constitute a two-member oversight and grievance redress committee of a retired district judge to “audit under-trial locations, family-contact logs, lawyer-interview registers, and production orders”. It should also recommend disciplinary action for non-compliance and submit bi-monthly status reports to the court.
HC to hear arguments on maintainability of Mufti’s petition
The High Court of J&K and Ladakh will hear arguments on the maintainability of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, also the president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking return of all the undertrials lodged in jails outside Kashmir.
As soon as the PIL came up for hearing, a division bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Rajnesh Oswal asked the counsel representing Mufti to specify whether the petition was maintainable as a PIL under law. The court adjourned the matter to November 18.
