SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court quashed the preventive detention order issued against Kashmir-based journalist Asif Sultan Saida by the Srinagar District Magistrate. The court found that Saida was not provided sufficient detention records and evidence, impeding his right to effectively appeal the order.
Justice Vinod Chatterjee Koul directed the Jammu and Kashmir administration to release Asif Sultan from preventive detention unless he is required in any other case. Asif was jailed in August 27, 2018.
The court judgement observed, “It is unambiguously clear and evident from perusal of receipt of grounds of detention & other relevant record that only five leaves have been given to detenu.” The court stated that Asif was not provided copies of the FIR, witness statements, and other investigation records related to the criminal case that formed the basis for his preventive detention under the Public Safety Act.
Justice Koul directed “respondents to set the detenu at liberty forthwith provided he is not required in any other case.”
The Srinagar District Magistrate had ordered Asif’s detention based on the accusation of his involvement in a 2018 criminal case. He was accused of ‘harnessing known militants’, ‘criminal conspiracy’, and ‘aiding and participating in militant activities.’
Aasif Sultan was associated with the, now defunct, monthly magazine ‘Kashmir Narrator’, when he was taken into custody by the J&K police on August 27, 2018. He was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and various other sections of the erstwhile Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) – now the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The J&K High Court has quashed the detention order of journalist Asif Sultan, who was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) [Asif Sultan Saida versus Union Territory of J&K and Anr].
Days after he was granted bail in the UAPA case by a Srinagar Court last year, he was booked under the PSA. In 2019, he was awarded the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award by the American National Press Club.
In this backdrop, the Court opined that Sultan could not have been expected to make meaningful exercise of his right to representation against the detention order.
“It is only after detenu has all the said material available that he can make an effort to convince detaining authority and thereafter the Government that their apprehensions vis-à-vis his activities are baseless and misplaced,” the Court observed.
It passed the following direction,
“As a corollary, respondents are directed to set the detenu at liberty forthwith provided he is not required in any other case”
Last month, the High Court had quashed the preventive detention of Kashmiri journalist Sajad Ahmad Dar, also known as Sajad Gul.
Similarly, the High Court also granted bail to journalist and editor Fahad Shah in a UAPA case against him in relation to the publishing an article on The Kashmir Walla news portal in 2011.
Advocate GN Shaheen represented petitioner Asif Sultan while Advocate Sajad Ashraf represented the State.
Full judgement can be read here.
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