SRINAGAR: Individuals detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act can now be jailed anywhere across India as the Ministry of Home Affairs has changed a key provision of the law. The change has taken place on March 31 when a provision restricting the place of detention in case of PSA detainees was dropped, Jammu newspaper, Daily Excelsior reported.
The proviso attached to Section 10 of the law that prevented the lodgement of the detainees outside the state has been dropped. The proviso was reading: “Provided that the detenues who are permanent residents of the State shall not be lodged in the jails outside Jammu and Kashmir”. This has withdrawn the legal protection to the residents of the Jammu and Kashmir state. They can now be jailed in any state across India.
The changes were made under Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020 dated March 31, 2020, issued in exercise of powers conferred by Section 96 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.
The newspaper reported that the MHA also amended the sub-Section 3 of Section 14 of the Act that govern the constitution of the Advisory Board. Its Chairman and members used to be appointed by the Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court. Now the Board will be appointed by the Government on the recommendations of Search-cum-Selection Committee comprising of Chief Secretary (Chairman) and Administrative Secretaries of Home and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Departments (Members). “In the amendment, it has also been mentioned that no sitting judge of the High Court or the sitting District and Sessions Judge shall be appointed as Chairman or Member of the Board except in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir,” the report said.
The Board was a safeguard to detect and intervene in case of the misuse of the law and was normally headed by a retired judge. The Board was authorised to get the grounds of detention within four week’s of an arrest and the Board would approve or reject the grounds on basis of the material placed before it.
