The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has upheld the preventive detention of one Showkat Ahmad Chopan under the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978, dismissing a challenge to the detention order dated 3 May 2025 issued by the District Magistrate, Pulwama.
The petitioner contended that the grounds of detention were vague, that the relied-upon material and translated documents were not supplied, and that the detention was based on stale allegations, with no prejudicial activity attributed to him after 2021.
Rejecting these contentions, Justice Sanjay Dhar held that the detention record demonstrated that the detenu had been supplied 49 leaves of relied-upon material, including the detention order, grounds of detention, police dossier, FIR, witness statements, and their translated versions.
The Court observed:
“Whole of the material which forms basis of the grounds of detention seems to have been provided to the petitioner.”
The Court further held:
“The contention… that he has not been provided the entire material relied upon by the detaining authority and the translated version thereof is contradicted by the detention record.”
On the plea of delay, the Court noted that the grounds of detention specifically alleged that, even after securing bail, the detenu continued assisting Jaish-e-Mohammad operatives and had twice been taken into preventive custody in 2024, thereby establishing fresh prejudicial activities.
Rejecting the argument that the detention was founded on stale material, the Court observed:
“It cannot be stated that there are no specific allegations with regard to subversive activities of the petitioner in the grounds of detention.”
Finding no procedural infirmity or violation of constitutional safeguards, the Court concluded:
“I do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned order of detention. The petition lacks merit and is dismissed accordingly.”
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