The Jammu and Kashmir administration told the Supreme Court on Monday that on December 7 it had permanently revoked an order detaining NRI businessman Mubeen Shah, PTI reported. The order was issued after provisions of Article 370 were scrapped on August 5 to strip the region of its special constitutional status.
Several people, including political leaders, were detained hours before that under provisions of the state Public Safety Act. Shah was freed from Agra Central Jail on December 6 after the government issued a temporary release order, according to Greater Kashmir.
A three-judge Supreme Court Bench comprising NV Ramana, R Subhash Reddy, and BR Gavai allowed the Malaysia-based businessman’s’ wife Asifa Mubeen to withdraw her petition challenging the detention.
On December 4, the Ministry of Home Affairs had refused to provide any timeline for the release of political detainees in Jammu and Kashmir. The government told Parliament that 5,161 people, including stone pelters and politicians, were taken into preventive custody since August 4 “to prevent commission of offences involving breach of peace, activities prejudicial to the security of the state and maintenance of public order”.
Last week, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted a letter sent to him by fellow parliamentarian and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah from custody in Srinagar. “It is most unfortunate that they are not able to deliver me my post in time,” the letter read. “I am sure this is not the way to treat a senior Member of the Parliament and leader of a political party. We are not criminals.”
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