Farooq Abdullah arrested under PSA
KASHMIR The ex-cm’s residence has been declared a jail, he will be in detention for six months under public order of the Act
SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, under detention since August 5, has now been booked under a provision of the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) which allows authorities to detain an individual for six months without trial, official sources said on Monday.
The tough law against the 81-year-old patron of t he National Conference, confined to his home since the government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’ s s p e c i a l s t a t us , was imposed on Sunday, the sources said.
The three-time chief minister’s Gupkar Road residence has been declared a jail through a government order, they said.
He has been arrested under the ‘public order’ of the PSA, which empowers authorities to detain him for six months without trial. The PSA has two sections — ‘public order’ and ‘threat to security of the state’, the former allowing for detention without trial for six months and the latter for two years.
Abdullah, the Lok Sabha MP f r om Srinagar, i s t he f i r s t Jammu and Kashmir chief minister to be booked under the PSA.
His detention under the PSA came a day before the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration to respond to a plea that the former chief minister be produced before a court.
The petition was filed by MDMK l e ader Vaiko, who sought Abdullah’s release so he could attend an event in Chennai. Vaiko and Abdullah are said to be close friends for four dec
ades. The PSA is applicable only in Jammu and Kashmir. Elsewhere in the country, it is the National Security Act (NSA).
The National Conference (NC) said the party would take legal course to challenge Abdullah’s detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
“They have no justification to do that, but if they have booked him (Abdullah) under the PSA, then what can we do. We can only approach the courts. We will take constitutional and legal recourse,” senior NC leader Mohammad Akbar Lone told reporters here.