Srinagar, Sept. 5 -- Srinagar- The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of a Kupwara-based academic, holding that mere possession of books with politically sensitive or "dispiriting" titles cannot, by itself, justify detention under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.

A bench of Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi made the observations while setting aside the preventive detention order passed against Shafat Maqbool Wani under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, and directed that he be released from preventive custody forthwith.

The court said an academic scholar could legitimately possess a variety of literary works as part of intellectual inquiry and that possession of books with con...