SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of an Anantnag resident booked under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) for alleged repeated illegal sand extraction, holding that violations of mining laws and related criminal offences, however serious, do not by themselves constitute activities prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.
The court directed the immediate release of the detenue, observing that such allegations must be dealt with under the ordinary criminal law rather than through preventive detention.
Justice Rahul Bharti delivered the judgment in HCP No. 297/2025, titled Amir Ahmad Wani vs Union Territory of JK and Others, on July 9, 2026.
The petitioner, Amir Ahmad Wani, was represented by advocate Arif Javid Khan, while the Union Territory was represented by Government Advocate Ilyas Nazir Laway.
According to the case record, Wani was detained on August 7, 2025, pursuant to an order issued two days earlier by the District Magistrate, Anantnag, under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978. The detention order was based on the District Magistrate’s satisfaction that the petitioner’s activities were prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.
The preventive detention proposal originated from a dossier submitted by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Anantnag, on August 1, 2025. The dossier alleged that Wani was repeatedly involved in illegal extraction of sand in violation of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and had continued these activities despite police action, court orders and environmental regulations. It also referred to FIR No. 241/2024 registered at Police Station Bijbehara under Sections 329(3) and 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The detention was approved by the Government on August 11, 2025, following which the Advisory Board endorsed the detention. The Government subsequently confirmed the detention through an order dated August 27, 2025.
Challenging the detention, Wani approached the High Court on September 17, 2025, after spending more than a month in District Jail, Udhampur.
Examining the record, the court observed that the District Magistrate had substantially reproduced the police dossier while framing the grounds of detention. More importantly, Justice Bharti held that the allegations, even if accepted at face value, related to violations of mining and criminal laws and did not satisfy the legal threshold required for invoking preventive detention on the ground of maintenance of public order.
The court observed that however brazen the alleged acts of illegal mining might be, the appropriate course was to prosecute the petitioner under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or other applicable penal laws. If proved, such prosecution could result in conviction and imprisonment, serving as a deterrent to both the accused and others engaged in similar activities. Resorting to preventive detention under the PSA, the court held, was not legally justified in the circumstances.
Holding that the detention order lacked a valid foundation under the Public Safety Act, the High Court quashed the District Magistrate’s detention order dated August 5, 2025, along with all subsequent government orders approving, confirming and extending the detention.
The court directed the Superintendent of the concerned jail to release Wani forthwith, unless his custody was required in connection with any other case.
