J&K Public Safety Act Cannot Be Used As Shortcut To Circumvent Due Process Established Under Code of Criminal Procedure: J&K High Court
Quashing a preventive detention order the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has underscored that the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978, cannot be wielded as a shortcut by preventive detention authorities to bypass the due process established under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. In allowing a habeas corpus plea against a detention order premised on multiple FIR's against the detenu Justice Rahul Bharti observed, “What is meant to be effectively cured and dealt with under section 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 cannot be diverted to be dealt with by the application of prevention detention mode of J&K Public Safety Act, 1978 by depriving a person of his personal liberty for any given period of time. Court's Observations: Meticulously dissecting the grounds for Hamid's detention, which included several FIRs ranging from 2017 to 2023, predominantly under Section 188 IPC and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 the Court emphasized that these FIRs pertained to law and order issues, not public order, and therefore, the use of the PSA was inappropriate. “Maintenance of Public Order” as being one of the grounds of subjecting a person to preventive detention is not to be easily assumed to be readily available by a just reference to series of FIRs reporting crimes against a particular individual which would at the most render him to be branded as a habitual offender for which the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in itself has conceived a preventive measure under section 110”, the bench remarked.
Jammu & Kashmir And Ladakh High Court Weekly Round-Up: July 15 - July 21, 2024
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