Modi Govt Detains Farooq Abdullah Under PSA, Supreme Court Issues Notice

National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah  was detained under the Public Safety Act on Sunday night, on the eve of a hearing on a plea seeking to produce him before the Supreme Court, The Wire  reported.

Under the provisions of the Public Safety Act, Abdullah can be detained up to two years without trial.

On Monday, the Supreme Court  asked the Narendra Modi government and the Jammu and Kashmir  administration to respond to the plea filed by MDMK leader Vaiko, a close friend of Abdullah.

“Is Farooq Abdullah under any kind of detention?” the top court asked while hearing the plea.

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A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices SA Bobde and SA Nazeer issued notices to the Centre and the state and fixed a hearing on Vaiko’s plea for September 30.

Vaiko has contended that constitutional rights conferred on Abdullah had been deprived of on account of “illegal detention without any authority of law”.

In his plea, Vaiko has said that authorities should allow Abdullah to attend a “peaceful and democratic” annual conference, being organised in Chennai on September 15, on the occasion of the birthday of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CN Annadurai.

Abdullah and his son Omar are among several political leaders put under house arrest in Jammu and Kashmir a day before the Centre announced the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5.

Amit Shah’s contrary statement

On August 6, home minister Amit Shah had told the Lok Sabha that the former chief minister had not been detained or arrested and was at home “out of his own free will”.

Abdullah had said Shah was lying. “Dictatorial authority has been invoked and not a democratic authority that we thought they will invoke. I don’t know how many have been arrested. Nobody is allowed to come in or go out, we are under house arrest,” he told reporters, PTI quoted.