SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of a Jammu resident booked under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) over alleged involvement in bovine smuggling cases, holding that the allegations related to “law and order” issues and did not justify preventive detention on grounds of “public order.”
The judgment was delivered by Justice Rahul Bharti on May 13, 2026.
The petitioner, Reham Ali, was represented by advocates Iqbal Hussain Bhat and S. H. Qazi, while the Union Territory was represented by Deputy Advocate General Pawan Dev Singh.
According to the court record, Reham Ali had challenged his detention ordered by the District Magistrate Jammu under PSA Order No. PSA 19 of 2025 dated October 28, 2025, passed under Section 8(1)(a) of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978.
The detention order had described the petitioner’s activities as “prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.” Following the order, he was lodged in District Jail Poonch.
The preventive detention had been recommended by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu through a dossier dated October 18, 2025, citing seven FIRs registered against the petitioner between FIR No. 354/2022 and FIR No. 118/2025.
The court noted that all the FIRs pertained to offences under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and related to alleged transportation of cattle and bovine smuggling.
Justice Bharti observed that the District Magistrate had termed the petitioner a “habitual criminal” and concluded that ordinary criminal law had failed to deter him. However, the court found that such reasoning could not sustain a preventive detention order under the PSA.
In a significant observation, the court held: “This Court has no hesitation to hold that the preventive detention of the petitioner is misconceived by reference to maintenance of Public Order as the petitioner, at the best, is a problem on the law and order side.”
The court further observed that provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 were sufficient to deal with such allegations if implemented properly by law enforcement agencies.
Rejecting the administration’s justification for invoking the PSA, the bench said: “Since the District Magistrate, Jammu has come up with a very apologetic assessment that ordinary law of the land has failed that assessment cannot form a basis for ordering preventive detention of a person to deprive him of his fundamental right of personal liberty.”
The court also took note of an earlier judgment passed in HCP No. 4/2024 concerning detenue Hamid Mohd., where similar detention proceedings had been examined.
Allowing the petition, the High Court quashed the detention order along with the approval and confirmation orders issued by the government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The court directed authorities to immediately restore the petitioner’s liberty and ordered his release from District Jail Poonch, or any other place where he was being detained.
