J-K High court quashes detention order, awards two lakh compensation to detainee

Srinagar, Jun 20:  The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh recently quashed the preventive detention of a 22-year-old man and awarded him rupees two lakh in compensation.

Quashing the detention of the man under Section 8 of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, Justice Rahul Bharti observed,” Release from illegal custody no doubt restores the fundamental right to personal liberty to an aggrieved person but it doesn’t earn him any succor for the injury received by him and to his person and for that the only remedy and relief that can be extended by a constitutional court is a compensation under public law remedy which in the present case the petitioner is entitled to have from this court and that is why this Court is awarding compensation of an amount of Rs 2 lakh in favour of the petitioner payable by the respondents.”

The petitioner was accused of providing logistic support to terrorists in Rajouri-Pulwama and allegedly shared information on security forces’ movements with Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terrorists in the area. The petitioner’s father approached the High Court, claiming his son had been illegally detained.

The High Court ruled that the petitioner’s preventive detention was illegal, noting that the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, had been amended to exclude “security of the State” as grounds for preventive detention.

The High Court criticized the district magistrate for arbitrarily invoking the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, describing it as a frivolous exercise.

“Fundamental rights under the Constitution of India are guaranteed to every citizen, and any unlawful infringement cannot be overlooked by a constitutional court,” the order emphasized, addressing complaints from aggrieved citizens about violations of their rights due to wrongful government actions.

Advocate GN Shaheen represented the petitioner, while Advocate Zahid Noor appeared for the State.

(CNI)