SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir excessive court docket on Friday quashed the preventive detention of a person booked below the Public Security Act (PSA) for alleged involvement in anti-national actions.The detainee, Sajad Ahmad Bhat of Drabgam, Pulwama, was represented by Zameer Abdullah and Zahir Abdullah, the 2 sons of J&Ok chief minister Omar Abdullah.In line with the judgment, Bhat was positioned below preventive detention after being accused in FIR No. 119 of 2020 at Police Station Rajpora for offences punishable below the Indian Arms Act and the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act.The Pulwama district Justice of the Peace, in a detention order on April 30, 2025, had said that Bhat had “re-activated his contacts” and was “in shut contact with energetic terrorists within the space”, enabling them to evade arrest. The order had described his actions as “extremely prejudicial to the safety of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir” and warranting preventive detention below the PSA.Pleading earlier than a single bench of Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, the defence legal professionals argued that Bhat had already been arrested within the 2020 FIR and was later launched on bail by a reliable court docket on Nov 13, 2023 within the case.In its order, the HC noticed that “the counsel for the petitioner have efficiently proven that the detainee had been granted bail by a reliable court docket of regulation, and the impugned detention order, based mostly on the identical FIR, is an end result of stale allegations”.The bench mentioned the detention order issued in 2025 was based mostly on a case registered in 2020, terming it “stale” and missing a “proximate hyperlink” between the alleged actions and the current safety scenario.The HC directed that the petition be allowed, the detention order be quashed and the respondents directed to launch the detainee forthwith if not required in every other case.The judgment comes at a time when PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has moved the HC in search of the return to the UT of all undertrials held in jails outdoors Jammu and Kashmir.Outdoors the HC in Jammu on Monday, Mehbooba mentioned they have been hoping that the elected govt would take motion on the difficulty of undertrial prisoners lodged in jails outdoors J&Ok.Nationwide Convention, nonetheless, used the judgment to criticise Mehbooba. “Whereas Mehbooba Mufti opts for theatrics with zero profit to these below detention, Zamir and Zahir quietly do the true work, providing assist, authorized support, and help with out the drama. What's wanted isn't noise outdoors courts however motion inside them,” NC spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq mentioned. “Nationwide Convention stays dedicated to advocating the discharge of these with minor or no prices, and to making sure that others lodged in distant jails throughout the nation are introduced again to J&Ok,” he mentioned.
