New Delhi: As many as 134 people were detained in Kashmir under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) in 2020, but the detention of only 39 was confirmed, while 95 people were released after their detention was either revoked or quashed, ThePrint has learnt.
According to data accessed by ThePrint, the number of people detained under the Act in 2021 was 304, of which 183 orders were quashed by the Jammu & Kashmir High Court and 15 were revoked by an advisory board for not having “proper grounds for detention”.
The reason for the high number of detentions being quashed was that dossiers of the detainees were either poorly drafted or were a copy-paste of earlier ones, owing to which the court took an “adversarial view”, intelligence sources told ThePrint.
A dossier lists the activities of a detainee that are allegedly “prejudicial to the security of the country or for public order”, the grounds for detention, intelligence inputs against that individual, and their interrogation report, among other details.
Every case of detention first goes to an advisory board, chaired by a serving or retired high court judge and consisting of two other members, for review.
Concerned about the poor job being done on dossiers, the J&K Police in 2021 started training personnel in drafting dossiers and preparing a “tight case”, so that detentions were upheld and extended.
Since the training started, more detentions are now being confirmed. In 2022, out of 749 detentions, 49 were quashed and 25 were revoked. This year, up to 22 people have been detained under the PSA so far.
The Public Safety Act, 1978, allows the police to detain any person without trial for up to two years — subject to a review every six months — “in the case of persons acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State”. Moreover, “any person acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order” can be held in administrative detention of up to one year. The Act extends to the whole of Jammu & Kashmir.
“In 2020-21, many people were booked under the PSA but due to limited resources, the paperwork was not strong and many of the detentions were not confirmed. At times, it was due to poorly-drafted dossiers that read similar to each other and at other times, the grounds of detention were contested by the advisory board,” a source told ThePrint.
The source added: “To ensure that the paperwork was done properly, the J&K Police started training officers in how to draft dossiers better, which has led to a significant improvement in the number of detentions confirmed.”
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The process of detention
To detain an individual under the PSA, the police department prepares his or her dossier listing out their activities that are believed to be a threat to the country’s security or can disrupt public order.
An SP-rank (superintendent of police) officer or someone above, then submits the dossier to the district magistrate who, after scrutiny, issues a warrant to detain the individual.
Once the police execute the warrant and put the individual under detention, the matter goes before the advisory board for a review within three to six months, depending upon the nature of detention.
Detention orders under PSA can be issued by divisional commissioners or district magistrates. Moreover, the authority detaining an individual under the Act need not disclose any details about the detention.
Detention under the PSA is of two types, one is for people acting to disrupt public order, and the other is when an individual is acting in a manner which is prejudicial to the security of the state, an intelligence officer explained.
In the case of detention under the PSA for disrupting public order, a review is done every three months, with extension allowed up to nine months, since the maximum time a person can be detained under this head is one year.
In the case of detention for acting against the state, a review is done after six months and an extension of 1.5 years can be sought, since the maximum period of detention under this head is two years.
“In every case where a detention order has been issued, the government within four weeks of detention places the grounds on which the order has been made before the Advisory Board, which then scrutinises whether the grounds are sufficient cause for the person’s detention,” the PSA states.
The Act adds: “Once the Advisory Board clears the detention, the government (home department) confirms the detention order and continues the detention for the time it seems fit. In cases where the Advisory Board doesn’t see sufficient cause for detention, the government revokes the order and the person is released.”
Data accessed by ThePrint showed that 81 of 134 detentions were quashed by the high court in 2020. In 2021, 183 of 304 detentions were quashed by the court, and in 2022, 49 of 749 detentions were quashed by the court.
“If the home department and the Advisory Board are not satisfied with the grounds on which the detention has been done, then the order is revoked,” the officer explained.
However, if the order is confirmed by the advisory board, and it is challenged by the aggrieved party before the high court, the latter can take a decision on whether the detention is valid or not.
“If the high court is of the opinion that the grounds for detention are not sufficient, they quash the PSA order and the individual is released,” the officer added.
“This is the reason why the training was started,” the source in the intelligence department mentioned earlier said.
Last year, the National Investigation Agency was roped in to train the J&K Police in “investigation skills”.
It includes training in evidence collection, recovery and preservation of evidence, especially electronic evidence, ensuring proper documentation, scene-of-crime management, intelligence collection and dos and don’ts during investigation.
The officers are also being trained in key provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Indian Evidence Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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