IIOJK HC quashes PSA detention of Baramulla resident
Srinagar: The High Court in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir has quashed a detention order issued under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) against a Baramulla resident, holding that the authorities’ failure to execute the order for over two years cast serious doubt on its validity.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Justice Sanjay Dhar allowed a petition filed by Altaf Ahmad Waza, challenging detention order dated August 6, 2019, passed by the District Magistrate of Baramulla.
The petitioner had approached the court contending that the detention order was illegal, passed without application of mind, and lacked any factual basis. He further argued that despite being called once to a police station, the authorities had taken no concrete steps to execute the order, indicating that there was no real necessity for his detention.
The court observed that delay in execution itself can be a valid ground if it undermines the detaining authority’s “subjective satisfaction.”
Examining the record, the court found that the detention order remained unexecuted from August 2019 until it was stayed in November 2022—a period of over two years during which the authorities had ample opportunity to act.
“The detention record does not reveal that any efforts have been made by the executing agency to execute the impugned order… for more than two years,” the judgment said.
Calling out the inaction, the court held: “The respondents have shown slackness and remissness in executing the warrant of detention… This throws considerable doubt about the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority.”
On these grounds, the court concluded that the detention order had lost its legal sustainability.
“In view of the foregoing discussion, the petition is allowed, and the impugned order of detention is quashed,” the court ruled.
