AI demands end to repeated detentions under draconian PSA

Srinagar, May 18, 2013 (PPI-OT): World human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, has urged the puppet Chief Minister of occupied Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, to issue an order directing the authorities to stop the practice of ‘revolving door detentions’ and not use black law, Public Safety Act, to repeatedly detain the same individual on similar grounds.

The Amnesty International in a statement said that the PSA detention records maintained by the Home Ministry of the occupied territory must be publicly accessible, especially to spouses and close family members and legal representatives assigned and agreed by detained persons.

Citing case in March 2013, when three boys under the age of 18 were detained under the PSA, the statement said, “Two of the boys were immediately transferred to a jail in Jammu, where they remain in detention. Their parents were not informed. Family members have a right to know where their loved ones are being held, but the police in J and K regularly transfer individuals to jails far from their homes without informing the families or lawyers.”

“Another boy, just 15 years old, was first arrested under ordinary criminal law in March 2013. But when a court ordered his release on bail, the police detained him under the PSA. The authorities use repeated detention, called “revolving door detention”, in J and K to circumvent the criminal justice system and keep individuals behind the bars,” it added.

The statement said, the PSA directly allows arbitrary detention, and indirectly facilitates torture, ill-treatment and other human rights violations at the hands of police, in breach of India’s human rights obligations. It added that one of the ways to help end these violations was to repeal the PSA once and for all, and stop new legislation that would facilitate further human rights violations by the police.

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