New Delhi: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the detention of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, under the Public Safety Act (PSA). The plea was filed by Abdullah’s sister Sara Abdullah Pilot.
Abdullah and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti were recently booked under the Act.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioner Sara Abdullah Pilot, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice N V Ramana.
Sibal told the bench that they have filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of Abdullah under the PSA and the matter should be heard this week.
The bench agreed to an urgent listing of the matter.
In her petition, Pilot has said that there could be no material available to detain a person who has already been detained previously for six months.
“The grounds for the detention order are wholly lacking any material facts or particulars which are imperative for an order of detention,” the plea said, adding that the detention order is “illegal”.
“It is rare that those who have served the nation as members of Parliaments, Chief Ministers of state, ministers in the union and have also stood by the national aspirations of India are now perceived as a threat to the state,” the plea said.
“Finally the order conflates governmental policy with the Indian state, suggesting that any opposition to the former constitute a threat to the later.
Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and other leaders of Jammu and Kashmir have been in detention since August when the government scrapped Article 370 and divided the state into two Union Territories.
In December last year, Farooq Abdullah’s detention was extended for three more months under the PSA.