Ishfaq-ul-Hassan | India Tomorrow
SRINAGAR, FEBRUARY 14— Ahead of the hearing in the Omar Abdullah case, National Panthers Party (NPP) Chief Patron Professor Bhim Singh has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court praying to declare Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, as “invalid and ultra vires”.
Singh, who is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and Executive Chairman of J&K Legal Aid Committee, in his petition, said President of India by demolishing Article 35-A had removed the PSA from the pages of Jammu and Kashmir Constitution.
Singh said more than 600 political activists have been detained for more than six months under the draconian law which had lost its existence the day President of India abrogated Article 35-A from Chapter-III of the Indian Constitution.
“Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, has become redundant after the deletion of Article 35-A from the Constitution of India as the aforesaid Act was enacted in exercise of the power conferred under Article 35-A of the Constitution of India to the State Legislature”, he said in the petition challenging the constitutional validity of the act.
Prof Singh noted that the provisions of Public Safety Act, 1978 cannot be invoked to detain the residents of the Jammu and Kashmir merely to restrain them from raising their voice against the arbitrary acts of the Government of India.
“That the misuse of the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, which is a redundant legislation and has lapsed after the deletion of Article 35A from the Constitution of India, in as much as it violates the spirit of Constitution, individual liberty, which is the soul of democratic Constitution. Moreover the government has shown no tangible evidence which suggest that about 600 detainees indulged in activities which were causing problems and threatening the peace and tranquility in the Jammu and Kashmir”, he said.
The petition was submitted a day before Supreme Court is set to hear the petition of Sara Pilot against J&K government’s decision to slap Public Safety Act on her brother and former chief minister Omar Abdullah.
On February 7, Jammu and Kashmir government slapped stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on two former chief ministers.
Kashmir has been simmering after the abrogation of article 370 and bifurcation of the state into two union territories – Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh.
In fact entire political leadership of Kashmir was jailed on August 5. Those jailed include three former chief ministers –Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah.
Official figures reveal that more than 5161 people including stone pelters, miscreants, over ground workers and politicians were arrested since the abrogation of Article 370.
