J&K HC quashes 8-month detention of 76-yr-old ex-Kashmir bar union chief, slams charges as 'vague'

SRINAGAR: J&K high court quashed on Monday former Kashmir Bar Association president Nazir Ahmad Ronga 's preventive detention since July 10 last year on grounds of him being "a threat to public order", saying the allegations levelled against the 76-year-old were "vague". "There has been total non-application of mind on the part of the detaining authority in passing the order," Justice Sanjay Dhar said, directing the state govt to release Ronga immediately. The case filed against Ronga under the J&K Public Safety Act (PSA), among the few laws of the erstwhile state to be retained after the nullification of Article 370 in 2019, accuses him of joining the separatist Hurriyat Conference with the intention of "spreading terrorism and to carry out unlawful activities, including secession of J&K from the Union of India".

Ronga has been accused of organising "anti-national seminars, rallies and various other programmes within court premises to glorify secessionism ". These seminars were attended by "secessionist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yaseen Malik", the dossier states. He was detained last year on the orders of Srinagar's district magistrate to "prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state".



The legislation invoked against him allows the administration to detain a person without trial for up to two years if the individual is considered a threat to order or national security. None of the regular safeguards for an accused under the criminal justice system apply. Ronga had been previously detained under PSA in the aftermath of Parliament striking down Article 370.

He was released in 2020 after the high court quashed his detention. Challenging his detention for the second time, Ronga's counsel Davendra N. Goburdhan said his client was a law-abiding citizen who had never committed any offence, much less one against the state.

He said Ronga "condemned terrorism and extremism through his lectures and speeches, but the respondents have slapped the order of preventive detention against him without any basis". Justice Dhar said in his ruling that there was nothing to suggest the charges slapped on Ronga would stick. "If we minutely examine the alleged activities of the petitioner after his release from the preventive detention in 2020, if comes to the fore that the detaining authority has not identified persons or like-minded members of the Kashmir Bar Association with the help of whom the petitioner intends to achieve his anti-national goals.

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