After sitting Parliamentarian Dr. Farooq Abdullah, two more former Chief Ministers of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were booked under ‘draconian’ Public Safety Act by the J&K administration late Thursday night.
The Act allows detention of any individual for up to two years without a trial.
Both the leaders, currently camping in different locations were duly informed and served the PSA notices by the district authorities late in the evening. Official sources claimed their six-month-long “preventive detention” was to come to an end on Thursday.
A total of 389 people are already in detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mehbooba Mufti, under detention since August 5, is currently detained at a govt bungalow near Lal Chowk while Omar is lodged inside Hari Niwas palace on Gupkar road.
In the absence of any official statement the twitter handle of Mehbooba Mufti, first of all, confirmed the news after her daughter posted a tweet announcing, “Ms. Mufti received a PSA order sometime back. Slapping the draconian PSA on 2 ex J&K CMs is expected from an autocratic regime that books 9-year-olds for ‘seditious remarks’. Question is how much longer will we act as bystanders as they desecrate what this nation stands for?
Earlier in the day, the twitter handle of PMO India too tweeted, ” There have been statements made by former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir that are not acceptable to us”.
There have been statements made by former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir that are not acceptable to us: PM @narendramodi
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 6, 2020
Meanwhile, three other leaders Ali Mohd Sagar, Bashir Ahmed Veeri of National Conference and maternal uncle of Mehbooba Mufti, Sartaj Madni of PDP were also booked under PSA by the concerned authorities on Thursday.
According to official sources, during the day PSA’s were first slapped on National Conference General Secretary Ali Mohd Sagar, former NC MLC Bashir Ahmed Veeri and PDP leader Sartaj Madni and in the end, PSA orders of both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti too were signed late Thursday night.
A total of 389 people are already in detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to official sources, NC leader Ali Mohd Sagar and PDP leader Sartaj Madni were both shifted from the MLA hostel in Srinagar and lodged inside a government guesthouse after they were both booked under PSA act.
On Wednesday, the J&K government had shifted Sajjad Lone and PDP spokesman Wahid Parra from MLA hostel to their private houses and the house arrested them.
Why it is draconian?
Originally, the Public Safety Act was introduced in Jammu and Kashmir by Abdullah’s father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, on April 8, 1978. The Act allows detention of any individual for up to two years without a trial.
Though the law was initially meant to deter the timber smugglers who were on a rampage at that time, over the years — and after the militancy erupted in 1989 — the law was used to detain political dissenters or those involved in anti-state activities.
In its earlier form, the controversial Public Safety Act allowed detention for up to two years without a trial for people above the age of 16. Later in 2011, the age bar was raised to 18 years.
The orders to detain an individual under the PSA can be issued by a District Magistrate or a Divisional Commissioner.
Dossiers served to Omar, Mehbooba
According to official sources, Omar Abdullah was served with a three-page dossier by the magistrate in which he was alleged to have made statements in the past which were “subversive” in nature.
Similarly, the magistrate and a police officer visited Mehbooba Mufti at the government accommodation, which had been converted into a subsidiary jail, and was handed over the dossier in which her statements from 2010 were cited as reasons for keeping her in detention.
Another NC leader Ali Mohd Sagar was detained under the PSA for speaking against the “Union of India”, the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A and informing party workers about the government’s decision on Article 370.
The dossier served to Sagar also stated, “the power of Ali Mohmmad Sagar can be gauged by his capacity to mobilise the electorate” during the height of militancy in Kashmir and by his call to boycott elections in the Valley.
Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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The passing of that PSA act was never contested by the Lutyens or Liberal society. It is draconian now suddenly !!
Each one of them is totally corrupt.
They have all these years been swindling the State Treasury, Central Grants.
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Keep them in Prison along with other ‘unfortunate Prisoners’ – not in the comforts of their home
Good.
These anti nationals deserve to cool their heels in jail so that J&K can heal.