Kanoon Ki Dastak
In a landmark judgment, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh quashed the preventive detention of Bilal Ahmad Malla, strongly censuring the conduct of law enforcement authorities for what it termed a “pollution” of the preventive detention jurisdiction.
Justice Rahul Bharti, while delivering the judgment, observed that the preventive detention powers—granted under the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978—must be exercised with utmost integrity and not be used as a tool for oblique motives. “Preventive detention jurisdiction is too pure in its intent and purpose to be left to be polluted by anything else at the end of Law Enforcement Authorities/Agency,” the court remarked.
The court found serious procedural lapses and malafide intentions behind the detention of the petitioner. Malla had been in judicial custody in connection with FIR No. 192/2021 when a detention order was issued against him. The court noted with concern that this crucial fact was deliberately omitted from the dossier submitted by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, thereby misleading the District Magistrate into issuing a detention order without full knowledge of the facts.
“It appears the detention order was procured and kept in reserve like a cat-and-mouse game to be executed only if the petitioner was granted bail by a competent court,” Justice Bharti stated. He emphasized that the unexplained delay of over a year between the issuance and execution of the detention order rendered the action “seriously vitiated.”
Further, the court found that the petitioner was never informed of the outcome of his representation against the detention—another grave violation of legal procedure, affecting his right to fair treatment under the law.
Consequently, the court quashed the detention order and directed the immediate release of the petitioner, unless his custody is required in connection with any ongoing criminal proceedings.