Jammu & Kashmir High Court orders ₹2 lakh compensation for illegal preventive detention of man

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh recently quashed the preventive detention of a 22-year-old man and awarded him compensation of ₹2 lakh (Aftab Hussain Dar v. Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir).While quashing the detention of the man under Section 8 of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, Justice Rahul Bharti observed,"Release from illegal custody no doubt restores the fundamental right to personal liberty to an aggrieved person but it doesn't earn him any succor for the injury received by him and to his person and for that the only remedy and relief that can be extended by a constitutional court is a compensation under public law remedy which in the present case the petitioner is entitled to have from this court and that is why this Court is awarding compensation of an amount of Rs 2 lakh in favour of the petitioner payable by the respondents.".The petitioner was accused of providing logistic support to terrorists operating in Rajouri-Pulwama. He had also allegedly provided information about the movement of security forces to Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terrorists operating in the area. The petitioner's father moved the High Court claiming that he had been illegally detained..The High Court held that the petitioner's preventive detention was illegal, as the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 had been amended to the effect that "security of the State" ceased to be a ground for preventive detention.It berated the district magistrate for resorting to exercise of jurisdiction under the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 "as a matter of plaything"."A fundamental right under the constitution of India is a guaranteed right to a citizen of India and, therefore, its invasion and breach in an unlawful manner and on frivolous/sham basis cannot be pass-over for a constitutional court whenever coming across with a case registered by an aggrieved citizen complaining about the injury caused to his/her fundamental right by a wrongful action at the end of the government," the order stated..Advocate GN Shaheen appeared on behalf of the petitioner. Advocate Zahid Noor represented the State..[Read order]