A petition challenging the detention of former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir will be heard by The Supreme Court today. The plea was filed by Mufti’s daughter Iltija, Mehbooba Mufti was detained under the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA).
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy will hear the plea filed by Mufti’s daughter. It will be after 7 months as it was last heard on February 26 when the top court had issued notice to the central government and union territory of Jammu & Kashmir. It was ordered that the case will be posted for further hearing on March 18 but it never listed after Covid-19 pandemic.
Iltija submitted the petition stating that the detention of Mufti was based on indefinite and defamatory ground bringing in the personal and political bias against her.
Iltija stated that the dossier, which was the basis for Mufti’s detention, was abound with vulgar descriptions about Mufti like “Daddy’s girl” and “Kota Rani”, the latter a medieval queen who rose to power through scheming and poisoning of opponents.
The detention order referred to opinions expressed by Mufti in the past as the basis for detention though there is not even the minutest suggestion that Mufti involved in any violent activity ever, the plea stated.
“The detention order is wholly based on the dossier which is slanderous, libelous and clearly demonstrative of the political and personal bias against the detenu (Mehbooba Mufti)”, the Habeas Corpus petition stated.
The term Habeas Corpus literally translates to “produce the body” and it is a plea seeking directions to be issued to the government to produce a detained person before the court and to release such person if the detention is found to be illegal.
Mufti has been under detention since August 5, 2019 when the Central government nullified Article 370 and placed the Kashmir valley in a state of lockdown. Her detention in 2019 was under Section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers an executive magistrate to order a person to execute bonds “for keeping the peace”.