The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday extended the detention period of bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal by three months under the Public Safety Act, PTI reported. Faesal, who was booked under the PSA on February 15, was about to complete three months of detention under the law and was due to a review as per the rules.
An unidentified official told the news agency that Faesal’s detention was extended barely hours before it was to come to an end on Wednesday.
He was charged for advocating “soft separatism” through his social media posts and articles, according to the government dossier. The stringent Public Safety Act has two sections – public order and threat to the security of the state. The former allows the accused to be detained without a trial for three months, a period which can be extended and the latter allows the accused to be detained for two years.
The politician has been in detention since August last year after the Centre scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. He was detained at the Delhi airport before he was scheduled to fly abroad and brought to Srinagar. Faesal’s detention then was under Section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Currently, he is detained in the MLA Hostel in Srinagar.
On May 5, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s detention under the Public Safety Act was also extended by three more months. Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, who had also been detained, were released in March.
In September 2019, Faesal withdrew a plea he had filed in the Delhi High Court against his detention. He said that several residents of Jammu and Kashmir have been unlawfully detained and have no legal recourse.
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