Jammu: The populace of Doda hit the streets after the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on Monday quashed the preventive detention of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Mehraj Malik under the Public Safety Act (PSA), holding that the order was legally unsustainable and based on “non-application of mind”.
Once the decision was made public, the entire populace of Doda hit the streets and celebrated the court decision.
Setting aside the detention order issued by the Doda district magistrate against Malik on September 8 last year, Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani directed authorities to “release the petitioner/detenu forthwith from his preventive detention”.
Reacting to the verdict, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami highlighted the misuse of the stringent PSA that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases, while Malik’s supporters took to the streets in his home constituency in Doda to welcome the ruling.
Malik, who is the AAP’s J&K unit president, was detained under the PSA in September for allegedly disturbing public order and was subsequently lodged in the Kathua jail.
On September 24, he filed a habeas corpus petition in the high court, challenging his detention and seeking Rs 5 crore as compensation.
On February 23, the high court had reserved its order in the case.
In his 87-page order, the judge said, “…the impugned detention order issued by District Magistrate, Doda is quashed with direction to the respondents to release the petitioner/detenu forthwith from his preventive detention in the instant case.”
The court underscored the distinction between ‘law and order’ and ‘public order’, observing that the material on record did not justify invoking preventive detention.
It noted that the alleged activities of the detenu do not amount to “public disorder” and held that there was “no live link or proximity between the alleged criminal activities and the need for passing of the impugned detention order”.
On the nature of cases cited against Malik, the court said they largely pertained to routine law and order issues, including election-related matters, adding that “almost all the criminal cases pertain to normal law and order violations not justifying the detention under PSA”.
“In the facts and circumstances of the case, this court is not of the opinion that the impugned detention order is based on malafides or emotions and instead there appears to be non-application of mind, as the court has hereinbefore opined that ground was not made out for framing an opinion by the learned detaining authority that the petitioner/detenu has either acted or is likely to act in a manner prejudicial ‘public order’ distinguishable from ‘law and order’,” the court’s order said.
The court found absence of any credible apprehension of threat to public order, stating it was “not of the opinion that there was any apprehension that the detenu is likely to act in any manner prejudicial to the ‘social disorder’.”
Reiterating constitutional safeguards, the court observed that preventive detention is “a permissible exception to the precious fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21” and “cannot be allowed to be misused for any reasons beyond the scope of the special legislation”.
Reacting to the verdict, Chief Minister Abdullah said, “He (Malik) should never have been detained under PSA, in fact he should never have been detained at all.”
“His detention was a gross misuse of this law (PSA) and totally unjustified. I hope the people responsible for this detention learn a valuable lesson from the decision of the Hon’ble High Court & reflect on the way these laws are being abused in J&K,” he said in a post on X.
Tarigami, in his post on X, said the high court has delivered justice in the case.
“He was wrongly booked under the draconian law that has been repeatedly misused in the past and continues to be misused, once again highlighting the urgent need for its revocation,” the CPI(M) leader said.
Meanwhile, celebrations broke out in Malik’s home constituency in Doda soon after news about the court’s order spread.
Hundreds of his supporters burst firecrackers and raised slogans in his favour, hailing the court’s decision.
Earlier in the day, AAP spokesperson Appu Singh Slathia said the verdict bolsters “our faith in judiciary”. Slathia was part of Malik’s legal team.
