Article 370: Tehseen Poonawalla moves plea in SC for release of leaders in Jammu and Kashmir

A PIL has been moved by Tehseen Poonawalla against the continued detention of political leaders, the undeclared curfew and shutdown of services in Jammu and Kashmir following the Government’s decision to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution which had accorded the State special autonomy in certain respects..Registering his objection to the present grim and lockdown situation ongoing in J&K, Poonawalla has moved the following prayers through his PIL i.e..Direct withdrawal of curfew/restrictions and all other regressive measures including blocking of phone lines, internet and news channels.Immediately release all the political leaders who have been taken into illegal custody since August 4, 2019.Appoint a judicial commission to visit J&K and ascertain the ground situation and file a status report before this Hon’ble Court..The plea was mentioned today before Justice NV Ramana, who intimated that he would place the matter before the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi..Poonawalla has moved the PIL citing the “current situation of continuous and complete lockdown since 4.08.2019 till date in Jammu and Kashmir” in the backdrop of the latest constitutional amendments by Union of India with respect to Jammu and Kashmir..Terming the same to be a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution, a press note issued by Poonawalla states,.“The actions taken by Union of India pertains to gross abuse of its powers under law, whereby the people of the J&K are suffering on account of unwarranted imposition of un declared curfew and further emergency like restrictions are being imposed under the garb of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The same has been confirmed by the fact that the citizens are barred access to basic healthcare, educational institutions, banks, public offices, food-vegetables and ration supply establishments and all other basic necessities….…That the political leaders of J&K including former Chief Ministers, Former Union Ministers, Former Legislators and Political Activists are arbitrary under arrest and are wilfully being denied their basic fundamental rights.“.In a related development, the Supreme Court today also refused to entertain a plea for the urgent listing of a petition filed by Advocate ML Sharma challenging the August 5 Presidential Notification on Article 370 of the Constitution..Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.