Srinagar, Sep 9, KNT: The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has quashed the preventive detention of Faizan Yaseen Shalla, holding that vague allegations and failure by authorities to produce the proceedings relied upon against him deprived him of an effective opportunity to challenge his detention.
Justice Javed Iqbal Wani passed the judgment on September 8 while dealing with a challenge to detention order No. DMS/PSA/18/2025 dated May 7, 2025, issued by the District Magistrate, Srinagar under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.
The Court noted that the grounds of detention referred to Shalla having been bound down on three occasions under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. However, the authorities failed to place before the Court the underlying proceedings or their outcomes.
The Court also found that the record did not disclose any compelling reason for resorting to preventive detention despite those proceedings.
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Another deficiency identified by the Court concerned the beat reports relied upon by the authorities. The reports contained general allegations but did not attribute any specific overt act to Shalla, according to the judgment.
The Court held that the material relied upon was insufficient to sustain preventive detention and that the vagueness of the grounds impaired the detainee’s constitutional right to make an effective representation.
The detention order was accordingly quashed, with the respondents directed to release Shalla forthwith, unless he was required in connection with any other case. [KNT]
