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| HC quashes PSA of Royal Singh | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 26: Justice Mohd Yousaf Wani of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court quashed the detention order bearing No. PSA 29 of 2024 dated 03.09.2024, passed by respondent No.2 i.e., (District Magistrate) Jammu, is quashed and the petitioner-Royal Singh is ordered to be released from his preventive detention under the aforesaid order now quashed provided he is not involved in any other case.
While quashing the detention order, Justice Mohd Yousaf Wani after hearing both the sides observed that The Court's legal reasoning hinged on interpreting -public order with precision. It delineated between general disturbances of law and order and actions that genuinely threaten societal piece. The judgment clarified that not every act disrupting law and order qualifies as being prejudicial to public order. For instance, petty thefts or assaults without broader societal implications do not meet the threshold for preventive detention under the Act. Furthermore, the court critiqued the authorities' tendency to conflate individual criminal acts with threats to public order, thereby undermining the very essence of preventive detention. By setting aside detention orders lacking direct relevance, the court reinforced the principle that such extreme measures must be reserved for genuine threats to societal harmony. As per the material brought before the detaining authority by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, the alleged activities of the petitioner could have been understood and apprehended as prejudicial to "law and order" and not to "public order". The alleged actions of the petitioner no doubt amount to infraction of laws for which the legal mechanism in place was already pressed into service. The invocation of the provisions of the Act to detain the petitioner rather than to pursue the prosecution against him appears to be an unjustified exercise tent-amounting to violation of the fundamental rights of the petitioner. Under these circumstances, the non-application of mind is discernible in the matter. It is settled legal position that a detention order suffering from non-application of mind of the detaining authority cannot sustain under law. —JNF |
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