The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has slammed the tendency of authorities to detain persons for simply being critics of the government, terming it as an abuse of the preventive detention law.
The court, according to Live Law, made the criticism while quashing the detention of Kashmir-based journalist Sajad Ahmad Dar, who writes under the name Sajad Gul. He was been under detention under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act since January 16, 2022 allegedly for his tweets and statements "promoting enmity" besides "being prejudicial to maintenance of public order and security of the State."
Finding the allegations to be vague and general, without any specific instance, the High Court ordered the immediate release of Dar.
The bench categorically stated that a person can't be detained merely for the reason that he is a critic of the government.
Earlier a single bench of the High Court, in December 2022, had refused to interfere with the detention order, following which he appealed to the division bench.