'If Detenue Was In Custody, It Wouldn't Have Been Possible For Him To Indulge In Stone Pelting' J&K HC Quashes A Detention Order Passed 'In A Mechanical Manner' [Read Order]

While hearing a petition wherein the Detaining Authority had ordered to place a Detenue under preventive detention, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday noted that it was clear from the dossier as well as the grounds of detention that at the time of passing of the impugned order, the detenue was in custody. This goes on to strengthen the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that the grounds of detention have been formed in a mechanical manner in this case" Matter before the Court Challenge in the petition was thrown to the order No.DMS/PSA/144 dated 30.11.2019, issued by District Magistrate, Srinagar whereby Shri Nasir Ahmad Mir son of Abdul Rashid Mir resident of Malik Mohalla Habbak Chanpora District Srinagar had been placed under preventive detention directing his lodgement in Central Jail, Srinagar. Contentions Raised The counsel for the petitioner, while seeking the quashment of the impugned order, projected various grounds but the main grounds that prevailed during the discussion were: That the grounds of detention are a verbatim copy of the dossier, which shows that the detaining authority has not himself prepared the grounds of detention which is prerequisite for him before passing any detention order, thus non-preparation of grounds of detention by the detaining authority renders the impugned order bad in law; That the detenue has been disabled from making an effective representation against his detention as the translated copies of grounds of detention have not been supplied to him. In fact, the receipt of detention papers bearing the signature of the detenue, which was part of the detention record, bear the following expression: "…The contents of the detention warrant/ grounds of detention have been read over and explained to the detenue in Kashmir/Urdu/ English language which he understood fully…" The Court further noted that from the perusal of aforesaid expression, it was not clear as to in which language the grounds of detention have been read over and explained to the detenue, whether it was Kashmiri, Urdu or English language.