‘PSA used more Casually than a Traffic Challan’: HC raps Authorities

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has quashed the preventive detention of a 28 year old Anantnag resident under the Public Safety Act (PSA), ruling that the order was unlawful from the outset. Justice Rahul Bharti directed the immediate release of Shabir Ahmad Dar, who had been detained since April 2024, sharply criticising the casual manner in which the sweeping security law was applied.

Dar was detained on April 20, 2024, after the Senior Superintendent of Police, Anantnag, submitted a dossier to the District Magistrate seeking action under the PSA, which permits detention without trial for up to two years. The detention order relied on a brief police dossier and referenced a July 2022 FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, though Dar was neither named as an accused nor shown as an undertrial in that case.

Authorities also cited his work at a madrassa in Kokernag and alleged social media activity on platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat as grounds for branding his actions prejudicial to state security.

Justice Bharti found the detention mechanically executed, holding that it was “illegal right from its inception.” In a stinging rebuke, the Court observed that the PSA had been invoked with “non-seriousness of standard with which even a motorist is not subjected to a routine traffic challan.” The judge concluded that the District Magistrate had acted solely on the police dossier without independent scrutiny, calling it a case of “equally bland application of mind.”

Finding no substantive material linking Dar to activities threatening state security, the Court quashed the detention order and ordered his release.

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