Separatist Yasin Malik booked under PSA; can face detention up to 2 years

Under the PSA, a person in Jammu and Kashmir can be kept in detention for a period of two years without any judicial intervention.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik has been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) that can keep him in detention for up to two years, JKLF sources said on Thursday. "Malik Sahab was informed today that he has been booked under the harsh PSA and would be shifted to Kot Balwal Jail in Jammu district," an informed source said. The JKLF chief was taken into preventive custody on February 22 and was lodged in the Kothibagh police city in Srinagar. Under the PSA, a person in Jammu and Kashmir can be kept in detention for a period of two years without any judicial intervention. Public Safety Act:

• The act was brought into effect in 1978, primarily to adopt a tough measure against timber smuggling in the state. It was much later that the act was frequently used to control militancy-related incidents. Under this act, the government can declare any area as ‘protected’ and exercise authority to regulate entry of any citizen in the protected area. Attempts to forcefully enter the designated areas invite prosecution

 

• The Public Safety Act gives Jammu & Kashmir government the power to detain anyone who acts “in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”. To be precise, an individual faces the risk of being detained if he or she is found “promoting, propagating, or attempting to create feelings of enmity or hatred or disharmony on grounds of religion, race, caste and community”. This detention without trial happens under the pretext of maintaining public order.