SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of a Srinagar man under the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), holding that the grounds relied upon by the authorities were vague and lacked material facts.
Justice Rahul Bharti, in a judgment pronounced on August 27, 2026, quashed the detention order of Altaf Ahmad Dar alias Altaf Sahil and directed the authorities to release him forthwith from the jail where he is currently detained.
Dar had approached the High Court through his wife, Razia Sultan, challenging his preventive detention under the PSA. He was detained on October 4, 2025, following an order issued by the District Magistrate, Srinagar, on September 30, 2025.
According to the detention dossier, Dar, a degree holder in Music and Fine Arts, was allegedly influenced by radical ideology and had come into contact with members and over-ground workers associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba/TRF. The authorities alleged that he had provided logistic support, including food and shelter, to militants.
The dossier also referred to an alleged incident in June 2022, when Dar and his associates were apprehended during a search operation at Barthana, Qamarwari. It was alleged that militants had stayed at his residence and that photographs recovered from his mobile phone showed them preparing food and taking shelter there.
The authorities further relied upon FIR No. 127 of 2022, registered at Police Station Parimpora under Sections 153-A, 153-B and 505 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The detention order was approved by the government on October 8, 2025, while the Advisory Board, in its opinion dated November 3, 2025, found sufficient grounds for the detention. The government subsequently confirmed the detention for an initial period of six months from October 4, 2025, to April 3, 2026. The detention was later extended and was stated to continue until September 3, 2027.
However, before the High Court, Dar challenged the detention on several grounds, including that the grounds supplied to him were vague and that relevant material concerning the criminal case against him had not been provided, thereby preventing him from making an effective representation.
The High Court found substance in the challenge.
Justice Bharti observed that neither the detention grounds nor the response filed by the District Magistrate disclosed the final outcome of FIR No. 127 of 2022. The court noted that the authorities had failed to state whether Dar had been charge-sheeted, whether a closure report had been filed, or what the status of the criminal proceedings was before a competent court.
“If no less a person than the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar in his dossier is to be found blank with respect to the final outcome of FIR No. 127 of 2022,” the court observed, the quality of information available to the police for preparing the detention dossier became seriously questionable.
The court further held that the District Magistrate was also required to seek relevant information regarding the status of the FIR before relying upon it as a basis for preventive detention.
Justice Bharti observed that if the reference to FIR No. 127 of 2022 was removed from the dossier and grounds of detention, little substantive material remained against the petitioner.
The court also noted that there was no factual indication that Dar had violated the terms and conditions of bonds executed on February 8 and April 25, 2025, which could have justified resorting to preventive detention.
Referring to the Supreme Court judgment in Vakil Singh vs State of J&K and Another, the High Court said that “grounds” of detention must contain factual material along with the conclusions drawn from those facts.
“In the present case, the expression ‘grounds of detention’ has nothing stated factually in its entire length and breadth except fictitious references,” the court held, adding that deprivation of a person’s fundamental right to personal liberty could not be sustained on such grounds.
The High Court consequently declared detention order DMS/PSA/41/2025 dated September 30, 2025, along with the subsequent approval, confirmation and extension orders, illegal and quashed them.
The Superintendent of the concerned jail was directed to release Dar forthwith and restore his personal liberty.
