High court quashes PSA detention of Pulwama youth, terms grounds 'stale and unjustified'

Srinagar, Nov. 3 -- The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has quashed the preventive detention of a Pulwama youth, observing that the order was based on "stale grounds" and lacked a proximate link with any current threat to public security.

Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, while allowing the habeas corpus petition of Sajad Ahmad Bhat, alias Baaber, a resident of Drabgam, Pulwama, ruled that the detention order of April 30, 2025, issued by the District Magistrate, Pulwama, was not in accordance with law.

Bhat had been booked in FIR No. 119/2020 of Police Station Rajpora under Sections 7/25 of the Arms Act and 18, 23, 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, but was later granted bail by a competent court in November 2023.

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