Court questions detaining authority for non-application of mind while passing the order
Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Monday overturned the preventive detention order of senior advocate Nazir Ahmad Ronga,a former President of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association who was detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act last year.
The court ordered the release of Ronga from the preventive custody forthwith with an observation that “the allegations levelled against him are vague, ambiguous and lack in material particulars.”
Justice Sanjay Dhar while going through the response filed by respondents recorded that authorities have failed to file “any intelligence report that supports their claim that the petitioner has continued to hold same ideology(secessionist ideology) for which he was detained in 2019.”
“Authorities try to lend some sort of credence in the matter which is ambiguous and vague,” Justice Dhar said.
Since the Court found the grounds of detention to be ambiguous and vague, it ruled that Ronga could not have made an effective and suitable representation against the order of detention.
Thus, his valuable constitutional right available under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India stood infringed, court said.
“The manner in which the grounds of detention have been formulated by the detaining authority clearly reflects non-application of mind by the detaining authority”, court said.
Justice Dhar noted that “the subjective satisfaction arrived at by the detaining authority, in these circumstances, has become a casualty.”
The order was reserved on 11 March and was pronounced today in habeas corpus petition filed through Ronga’s wife Bilquees Ronga.
It was argued that the allegations against the petitioner were concocted and malicious and he has never been a part of any separatist activity and has always remained loyal to peace-building measures.
It was said through the petition that the senior lawyer has been pushed to the wall for utter vegenanance and his reputation has been tarnished.
Senior lawyer Nazir Ahmad Ronga was arrested in July, 2024 in a nocturnal raid.He was arrested from his residence at Nishat in Srinagar and was initially lodged at the Nishat police station after which he was shifted to Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu.
At the time of his arrest, his family was not informed that he was being detained under the Public Safety Act. The arrival of a police team as well as the detention of Ronga was captured on CCTV footage.
It later came to light that a detention order under the Public Safety Act had been passed by the Srinagar District Magistrate on July 10 to prevent Ronga from “acting in any manner prejudicial to the security and integrity of the state.”
Ronga had served as Bar President several times before his arrest in 2019, a day before the Indian government abrogated the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir region, downgrading it to two federally governed Union territories.
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