KL Report
SRINAGAR
A human rights defender group in Srinagar Thursday said that senior Hurriyat leader Masarat Alam was slapped PSA bypassing judicial procedure.
Masarat Alam Bhat, Chairman, Muslim League, has been once again subjected to a Public Safety Act (PSA) detention. He has spent more than seventeen years in prisons in last 25 years under various PSA orders.
“This PSA order is against the Indian Supreme Court decision of 22 March 2013 that mandated, any fresh PSA order against him would not come into force for a week from the date of communication of the order to enable him to pursue appropriate legal remedies,” a statement from Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies said this evening.
“Further, the transfer of Masarat Alam to Jammu under this PSA order comes two days before his bail hearing in a FIR where he has been charged for sedition and waging of war for being part of a peaceful procession. Neither the sloganeering in the procession nor the raising of the Pakistani flag would be considered criminal even under Indian law. The FIR, arrest, and PSA order are all bad in law, and against the decisions of the Indian Supreme Court, and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court,” the statements said.
By this preventive detention order, the statement added, “the government has bypassed the judicial process and undermined its own institutions.” “The government in Jammu and Kashmir as usual has chosen to act as surrogates, and pay heed to the fascist groups and the jingoistic media of India, who earlier ensured hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru for satisfying ‘collective conscience’ of Indian people and now Masarat Alam too is being victimized to address the same ‘collective conscience’,” the statement concluded.
