Supreme Court Issues Notice to J&K Govt,on “unlawful Detention” of Cong.Leader Saifuddin Soz.
(Judicial Quest News Network)
The Supreme Court Has issued notice on a habeas Corpus petition filed against the Government of Jammu & Kashmir’s detention order of Octogenarian Congress leader and former Union Minister Prof.Saifuddin Soz who has been under arrest since 5th August 2019.
revoking the status of the (erstwhile) State of Jammu and Kashmir granted under Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution of India.
In his petition it was contended that Ten months have passed since his first detention, and he is yet to be informed of his grounds of detention. All efforts by him to obtain a copy of the detention order(s) have been of no avail due to the illegal, arbitrary exercise of powers by the Respondent No. 2.
It was further submitted that Not only does it attract the vice of unconstitutionality, it is also in stark contravention of the statutory scheme of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”), under which the detention has purportedly been made.
A Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra issued the notice, after hearing Senior Advocate P.Chidambaram and Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who submitted that Soz has been kept under detention for over 10 months without properly communicating to him the grounds of the detention.
While arguining the matter Dr. Singhvi insisted the court that matter should be listed in next week but the Apex Ccourt refused to do so and listed the matter for the second week of July.
The petition was filed by Advocate-on Record Sunil Fernandes on behalf of Soz.s wife, Mrs Mumtazunnisa Soz.
The petitioner further contended that His detention is wholly contrary and perverse to the constitutional safeguards laid down under Article 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India, as well as the law on preventive detention.
It is further said in the mentioned in the plea from the above, it is needless to state that Mr. Soz is a law- abiding, peaceful Indian citizen. He has not committed any breach of peace, neither has he disturbed the public tranquility, nor is he likely to do any wrongful act that will occasion a breach of peace or cause any disturbance of public tranquility. However, Prof. Soz has been detained and put under house arrest since August of 2019 and the reasons for detention and arrest have never been informed till date, thereby making his detention not only illegal, malafide and unconstitutional, but also extremely appalling.
