Srinagar, Apr 27: High Court has quashed the PSA of legal advisor and spokesperson of Jamat-e-Islami (JeM) and directed the authorities for compensation of Rs 5 lakhs to him for his illegal detention.
The petitioner-Ali Mohammad Lone alias Zahid Ali in view of grounds of detention is alleged to have been a Rukin Jamat and legal advisor of banned Jamat-e-Islami party working as it press and publication chief and close associate of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Ameer-e-Jamat Ghulam Mohammad Bhat.
He is said to have been booked under PSA in the year 1990 and 2020 for his prejudicial activities and not only retaining sympathy for militants but also rendering assistance to them.
His activities as per the grounds of detention are said to have been preventing the law enforcement agencies to bring normalcy particularly in Pulwama and is even alleged to have been striving for restoration of Article 370 of the Constitution of India and for lifting of ban on JeI.
Justice Rahul Bharti while quashing of fourth detention of detenu-Lone said the same is set of mindset operating through SSP Pulwama and the District Magistrate Pulwama and mechanically followed by the Government has been effected least bothering the SSP Pulwama and the District Magistrate Pulwama to at least spare a reading, lest an appreciation, to the last judgment dated 24/02/2021 in which this court, in very clear and categoric terms, held the basis of the petitioner-Lone’s third time preventive detention to be resting upon stale grounds.
“So, therefore, for the SSP Pulwama and the District Magistrate Pulwama to propose and pass a fresh detention order against the petitioner, proximate and fresh factual inputs/incidents relatable to the petitioner taking place post 24/02/2021 ought to have been put into dossier and getting self reflected in the grounds of detention but there is nothing of that sort done at the end of the SSP Pulwama and the respondent No.2- District Magistrate Pulwama”, Justice Bharti said.
Justice Bharti has concluded that this court cannot resist but to hold that the preventive detention of the petitioner-Lone is mala fide and illegal and he has been made to suffer loss of his liberty for a cumulative period of more than 1080 days of preventive custody covered under the span of four detention orders in row from 2019 to ending March 2024.
“Latest preventive detention of the petitioner is compounding the illegality of attending the breach and violation of the petitioner’s fundamental right to personal liberty with impunity and that entitles him to compensation. Therefore, this court reckons this to be a fit case for this court to exercise its constitutional jurisdiction to extend constitutional remedy for grant of compensation in favour of the petitioner for illegal infringement of his fundamental right to personal liberty”, reads the judgment.
The court has held that a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs for the petitioner-Lone which the court said, would meet the ends of justice and therefore besides holding and declaring the preventive detention of the petitioner illegal, also holds the petitioner entitled to compensation of rupees five lacs payable by the respondent-authorities within a period of three months from the date of this judgment.
Court in light of the held the detention order no. 74/DMP/PSA/22 dated 14/09/2022 passed by the District Magistrate Pulwama read with consequent Government Orders of approval and confirmation of the petitioner’s preventive detention, illegal and unwarranted and directed the Superintendent of the Jail concerned to release the petitioner-Lone free from his prison.
Nadeem Nadu (ندیم مختار) 