Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 26: In two significant rulings on preventive detention, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on Friday upheld the detention of a Jammu youth accused of repeated involvement in drug trafficking, while quashing the Public Safety Act (PSA) detention of a Rajouri man, terming it arbitrary and mechanical.
A Bench of Justice M.A. Chowdhary dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Mohd. Mushtaq alias Chani (26), of Miran Sahib, Jammu, who was detained under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PIT NDPS Act). Authorities had booked Mushtaq in December 2024, citing his involvement in three separate NDPS cases registered in 2020, 2022, and 2024.
The court noted that Mushtaq, despite being granted bail multiple times, continued to indulge in drug trafficking, posing a "grave threat to society, particularly the youth." Observing that drug abuse fuels narco-terrorism and endangers public order, the court said: "Ordinary law has failed to deter him." It upheld his preventive detention, holding that constitutional safeguards had been complied with.
In contrast, Justice Chowdhary quashed the detention of Imtiaz Ahmed (32), of Karyote, Thanamandi, Rajouri, who had been detained by the District Magistrate in November 2024 under the J&K Public Safety Act. The court found that the detention order relied on stale cases from 2013 and 2017 without a proximate link to the present and that Ahmed's representation against the order was neither considered nor decided.
Terming the detention as a violation of Article 22(5) of the Constitution, the court observed that the order was passed "arbitrarily and mechanically" and directed Ahmed's immediate release unless required in any other case. (JNF) |
