Srinagar: The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, while quashing the preventive detention of senior journalist Majid Hyderi on Wednesday, described the grounds for his detention as “vague, ambiguous, and lacking a clear connection to present circumstances.”
Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul quashed the detention of Hyderi under Public Safety Act .
Hyderi, a freelance journalist and prominent TV commentator was arrested in September, 2023 from his residence on charges of criminal conspiracy, extortion, intimidation and defamation. He was later booked under the PSA and lodged in Kot Bhalwal Jail.
Justice Koul while referring to a judgment by a Division Bench of the J&K and Ladakh High Court emphasized that preventive detention is an exceptional measure and should not replace the general law of arrest and detention. The court observed that detaining a person without clear and specific allegations infringes upon Article 21, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty.
“The Division Bench also observed that the lack of bona fide is on account of the failure to take due care and act without introspection, blindly on the report of the sponsoring agency, without insisting on the supporting material which justifies the deprivation of liberty. The above observations and findings given by the Division Bench also apply to the present case. For the reasons discussed above, Detention Order passed by District Magistrate, Srinagar, is quashed,” the Judgment read.
The detention order had accused Hyderi of engaging in activities that allegedly endangered national security, misused journalism to spread false information, and advocated separatist ideologies. It was also mentioned in the grounds of detention that the detenu through his TV debates, Facebook, YouTube posts and personal tweets has been continuously propagating the stories in a selective narrative, which is in line with the separatist propaganda.
The Court upheld a previous finding that negative critic towards the policies of the government of J&K cannot be said to be a ground of detention.
The petition also included references to his journalistic work, which praised the efforts of Indian security forces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Home Minister.
The Court observed that the detaining authority appears to have not been made aware of the facts and information about Hyderi.
“If this information would have been brought to the notice of detaining authority, things would have been different and the detenu would not have been languishing in jail but would have been, at this moment, serving the Nation,” the Court said.
The court was critical of the authorities saying that it is very unfortunate that respondents have labelled the detenu as “not a peaceful citizen of India”.
“If we treat detenu, like peace loving citizens, in such a harsh way, by bashing and thrashing them, and placing them under preventive detention, then we will lose “peace” and “peace loving citizens,” the Court observed.
