Decision to transfer detainees to any jail outside J&K faces flak
The amendment bill became a law on July 13 after the assent of governor NN Vohra; HC bar body terms move ‘politically motivated’
SRINAGAR: The amendment to the Public Safety Act (PSA) for shifting of detainees booked under the Act to any jails outside the state has triggered a row with human right groups, civil society and separatists voicing their concern over the amendments.
The amendment was accorded assent by Jammu and Kashmir governor NN Vohra on July 13.
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It is an act to terrorise, torture and humiliate Kashmiris by threatening them to get them lodged in jails outside the state.
MIAN ABDUL QAYOOM, president, J&K High Court Bar Association
CONCERNS OVER PROVISO
Concerns have been voiced against the law omitting a proviso of Section 10 of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, which, so far, had barred authorities to lodge prisoners, who are residents of Jammu and Kashmir, in jails outside the state.
Under the Public Safety Act, police can imprison a person from three months to two years without trial.
GOVT CONTEMPLATING INFRA REFORMS OF PRISONS
The amendment was approved by the State Administrative Council (SAC) chaired by Vohra while referring to the Supreme Court’s direction on inhuman condition in prisons.
“The State Administrative Council (SAC) approved the bill titled ‘The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety (Amendment) Bill, 2018’, contemplating massive reform of infrastructure, particularly for improving the living conditions of the jail inmates,” an official spokesman had said on July 11 while referring to the Supreme Court directions regarding inhuman conditions in prisons.“the apex court has, from time to time, passed several directions to the Union and state governments vis-à-vis overcrowding of prisons, inadequacy of staff and poor living conditions of inmates,” he said.
‘VIOLATION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS’
The J&K High Court Bar Association described the move as “politically motivated”.
“It is an act to terrorise, torture and humiliate people of Kashmir by threatening them to get them lodged in jails outside the state after the arrest and detention under the preventive law,” said bar association president Mian Abdul Qayoom.
The bar statement mentioned that the proviso was added to Section 10(b) of the Public Safety Act in 2002 directing authorities not to lodge prisoners in jails outside the state which had been the case since 1990 when Jagmohan took over as governor.
“The bill, which is a flagrant violation of the fundamental and legal rights, is also in derogation to the five judge-bench decision of the Supreme Court of India,” Qayoom said. The Jammu and Kashmir government assembly was informed by government in January this year that at least 726 persons were booked under the PSA in Kashmir during the past two years, of which 649 were released.
‘HARASSING PRISONERS’
Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that authorities are “needlessly harassing and intimidating prisoners on one pretext or the other”.
Ridiculing the SAC amendment to delete a provision in the PSA, he said that the “callous approach reflects the musty mindset and their prejudicial style against prisoners, detained under the infamous PSA”.
‘AMENDMENT PASSED IN SECRECY’
Human rights organisations have also come out against the omission.
The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, a human rights body, issued a statement on social media through its programme coordinator Khuram Parvez.
“This amendment – passed in apparent secrecy – is both unlawful under the domestic and international law, and ‘political’ to the extent that its purpose is clearly to deter otherwise lawful conduct with the threat of detention outside J&K. But this amendment must be understood within the larger context of state violence,” the statement said.