ABDUL QAYOOM GANAI Vs. STATE AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 23-07-2016, the detenue Abdul Qayoom Ganai, was arrested by the SOG, Sopore, in connection with F.I.R bearing No. 263/3016, registered at Police Station, Sopore, u/s 10,13 ULA Act. While in custody, the respondent No. 2 District Magistrate, Baramulla, passed an order of detention bearing No. 60/DMB/PSA/2016 dated 08-08-2016. The said order was challenged by the detenue before this Court by the medium of HC(P) 630/2016 and after allowing the writ petition on 31-05-2017, the said order of detention was quashed by this Court and the respondents were directed to release the person of the detenue forthwith. The detenue has stated that when the said order was served on the respondents, the detenue, instead of being released, was shifted to the Police Station, Sopore, and during his custody there, another order of detention bearing No. 54/DMB/PSA/2017 dated 04-07-2017 was passed against the detenue on the same grounds that were taken against him in support of the earlier order of detention. This order of detention also came to be quashed by this Court vide order dated 25-09-2017, passed in HC(P) No. 265/2017 with the direction to the respondents to release the detenue forthwith. However, the detenue met the same fate and instead of being released, he was handed over to the authorities of the Counter Intelligence of Police, Jammu, who shifted the custody of the detenue to the SOG, stationed at Police Station, Sopore. After remaining in wrongful confinement in the Police Station Sopore, for more than a month, the detenue was produced before the learned Judicial Magistrate for remand in connection with F.I.R No. 85/2017 registered at Police Station, Bomai, u/s 10-13 ULA Act. The detenue has further stated that when he was produced before the learned Judicial Magistrate, he decried for his wrongful confinement and false implications on the part of the respondents, but of no avail. It is further stated that instead of paying heed to the agony of the detenue, the respondent No.2, in exercise of powers vested in him under clause (a) of section (8) of the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (for short Act of 1978) slapped yet another order of detention on him bearing No. 138/DMB/PSA/2017, dated 08-11-2017, impugned herein, and he was ordered to be lodged in Central Jail, Kotebhalwal, Jammu, and he continues to be there at the moment.

(2.) The impugned order of detention was executed by the respondents on 10th of November, 2017. The grounds of detention along with the contents of the detention warrant are said to have been read over and explained to the detenue in the Kashmiri language, which he understood fully well.

(3.) The order of detention has been challenged on the grounds, inter alia, that the detenue could not have been detained by the respondents under the provisions of PSA when he was already booked in substantive offences under various F.I.Rs and was in their custody when the orders of detention were passed and no bail application was filed.