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Srinagar, The High Court of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) quashed the fourth consecutive detention order under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) against Advocate Zahid Ali, the former spokesperson of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), and directed the authorities to compensate him for his illegal incarceration.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the court’s ruling came after Advocate Zahid Ali of Nehama, Pulwama, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention. The PSA order had been issued by the district magistrate of Pulwama.
Justice Rahul Bharti, in his judgment, stated, “This court cannot resist but to hold that the preventive detention of the petitioner is mala fide and illegal.� He noted that Advocate Zahid Ali had endured more than 1,080 days in preventive custody under four detention orders from 2019 to March 2024.
“The latest preventive detention of the petitioner is compounding the illegality, attending the breach and violation of the petitioner’s fundamental right to personal liberty with impunity, and that entitles him to compensation,â€� the court’s decision added.
While Advocate Zahid Ali had sought compensation of Rs 25 lakh, the court ordered the authorities to pay Rs 5 lakh, marking the first time the court has penalized authorities for a detention under the PSA. The judgment emphasized that the court had quashed the three previous detentions not on technical grounds, but on the merits of the case.
Advocate Zahid Ali was first detained under the PSA on March 5, 2019. The court quashed the detention on July 11, 2019, but the authorities issued a new PSA against him just eight days later, which was again quashed on March 3, 2020. The third PSA was issued on June 29, 2020, quashed on February 24, 2021. The most recent detention order was issued on September 14, 2022.
The court’s ruling signifies a significant step toward challenging the arbitrary use of the PSA in IIOJK and reaffirms the fundamental rights to personal liberty and due process.