SRINAGAR — The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of an Anantnag resident under the Public Safety Act (PSA), terming the proceedings a “sham exercise” and a “gross abuse of preventive detention jurisdiction” after finding that the District Magistrate had already coordinated jail lodgement with prison authorities before receiving or evaluating the police dossier.
Disposing of a habeas corpus petition, a Bench of Justice Rahul Bharti ordered the immediate release of Mehraj-Ud-Din Khanday from District Jail, Udhampur, holding that the detention was fatally vitiated by predetermination right from its inception.
The Anantnag resident had approached the High Court through his father, Ghulam Hassan Khanday, challenging detention order No. 22/DMA/PSA/DET/2025 dated May 15, 2025, passed by the District Magistrate, Anantnag, which had ordered his preventive confinement to prevent him from acting in a manner prejudicial to the security of the State.
While examining the official records, the Court discovered a fundamental flaw in the decision-making process. The record revealed that on May 14, 2025, a day prior to the formal formulation of the grounds of detention and the issuance of the detention order, the District Magistrate had already written to the Director General of Police (Prisons) seeking lodgement confirmation, which was approved the very same day for District Jail, Udhampur.
Justice Bharti noted that simultaneous with the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantnag generating the dossier, and prior to it landing on the magistrate’s table, it had already been mutually decided between the police and the detaining authority to detain the petitioner and lodge him in Udhampur jail.
Taking serious exception to this pre-judged exercise of power, the Court observed, “If respondent No.4-District Magistrate, Anantnag had predetermined subjecting the petitioner to preventive detention custody, then formulating of grounds of detention and passing of detention order No.22/DMA/PSA/DET/2025 dated 15.05.2025 on next day i.e. 15.05.2025 is nothing but a sham exercise at the end of the respondent No.4-District Magistrate, Anantnag leaving the constitutional trust with respect to preventive detention custody jurisdiction embarrassed to say the least.”
The Bench further pulled up the administration and the Advisory Board for failing to detect this gross illegality, observing, “This Court cannot become privy in this gross abuse of preventive detention jurisdiction at the end of the respondent No.4-District Magistrate, Anantnag complemented by the Home Department, Government of UT of J&K and ignored by none other than the Advisory Board, J&K. Therefore, the preventive detention of the petitioner pursuant to the detention order… approved and confirmed by the subsequent Government orders, as illegal seriously vitiated right from inception.”
The Court also noted that the solitary adverse criminal antecedent cited against the petitioner was a 2007 case under the Arms Act, in which he was acquitted by the Sessions Court, Anantnag, in October 2012. The subsequent police dossier, which accused him of being an overground worker (OGW) for Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and referenced the Baisaran Pahalgam tourist killing, was reproduced verbatim as the grounds of detention by the District Magistrate without independent application of mind.
Allowing the petition, the High Court quashed the detention order along with all subsequent confirmation and extension orders, directing the Superintendent of District Jail, Udhampur, to release Mehraj-Ud-Din Khanday forthwith.
Advocates Rizwan ul Zaman and Danish Khursheed appeared for the petitioner, while Senior Additional Advocate General Mohsin Qadri along with Assisting Counsel Rahila Khan represented the Union Territory administration. — (KDC)