Delhi High Court has sought Centre’s response by Thursday, 22nd Aug, in a habeas corpus writ petition filed by Md. Hussain Pader, the Pairokar or next friend on behalf of Dr. Shah Faesal who is allegedly under illegal detention in Kashmir.
On urgent mentioning, the case is before a Division Bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.
After the complete lockdown of all civilian movement and telecommunication service in the wake of abrogation of Article 370, Shah Faesal, an IAS 2009 topper who quit the services to start his political party – Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) party – went to Mumbai via Delhi on 9th Aug for an interview with the BBC on the Kashmir issue and returned to Delhi on August 10th. In the intervening night of 14th and 15th August, he says he was bound to take an international flight to USA via Istanbul and Frankfurt when the police illegally stopped him at the immigration counter and whisked him away to Srinagar against his wishes. The petition alleges high-handedness of concerned authorities in not disclosing the charges based on which the detention order may have been issued. The Petition has been filed by JKPM office bearer Dr. Pader who has derived all information through wife of Shah Faesal who was allowed to meet him once on 17th August at the Centaur hotel in Srinagar.
The petition states that not informing grounds of arrest to a detenue is violative of all safeguards mentioned in the CrPC. Shah Faesal was even not been produced before a Magistrate at New Delhi to seek transit demand from Delhi to Kashmir. The materials like twitter and facebook posts and the BBC interview are all speaking of the best intentions of Faesal where he asked people of Kashmir to maintain calm and use the judicial route to challenge the abrogation.
The petition urging for immediate release of Shah Faesal, will be next heard on Friday 23rd August. The Court has orally permitted the wife to meet Faesal for an hour.
–India Legal Bureau