J&K High Court quashes journalist Sajad Gul’s detention under Public Safety Act

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has quashed the detention of journalist Sajad Gul under the Public Safety Act, saying that there was no specific allegation against him to show that his activities could be “prejudicial to the security of the State”.

The Public Safety Act allows the authorities to hold individuals in custody without trial for up to two years on grounds of national security and up to a year for the maintenance of public order.

Gul was detained under the preventive detention law on January 16 last year, a day after a court had given him bail in a criminal conspiracy case.

In an order passed on November 9 and made public on Saturday, Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice MA Chowdhary observed that the detention order was based on “vague grounds” and directed the authorities to release the Kashmiri journalist.

“...The detaining authority, before passing the order, has not applied its mind to draw subjective satisfaction to order prevention detention of the detenu by curtailing his liberty which is a valuable and cherishable right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the order read.

The judges noted that Gul had not been given the three first information reports registered against him, copies of the dossier,...

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