Jammu and Kashmir Police today apprised that they have booked five anti-social individuals under Public Safety Act and imprisoned them in Central Jail Kot Bhalwal Jammu and District Jail Udhampur.
“Acting tough against ANEs (Anti-national Elements) Baramulla Police booked five persons namely Asif Ali Bhat son of Ali Mohammad resident of Badipora Tangmarg, Mohammad Yaqoob Bhat son of Gh Mohd resident of Tantraypora Palhallan, Waseem Mehraj Farash @Waseem Farash son of Mehraj ud din resident of Khanpora, Bashir Ahmad Sualiah son of Late Ghulam Mohammad resident of Mohalla Jadeed Baramulla & Bilal Ahmad Dar @Shakir son of Gh Nabi resident of Wussan Khoie Pattan under Public Safety Act after obtaining formal detention orders from the competent Authority,” reads a statement issued to media.
“The booked individuals have been detained and subsequently lodged in District Jail Udhampur & Central Jail Kot-Balwal Jail Jammu.”
“Pertinent to mention that many cases are registered against these persons and were involved in the disturbance of L&O and subversion. Despite their involvement in many FIRs they did not mend their anti national & Social activities,” reads the statement further.
The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) is a preventive detention law under which a person is taken into custody to prevent them from acting harmfully against “the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order” in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir (now a union territory). Whereas PSA applies only to Jammu and Kashmir, it is very similar to the National Security Act that is used by the central and other state governments of India for preventive detention.
It was introduced by the then-Chief Minister, Sheikh Abdullah, in 1978 to ostensibly stop the smuggling of timber. However, the political motives behind the law became clearer when Sheikh Abdullah used it for the first time against political rivals.[2] Since its usage in the late 1970s, it is still being used today for “the security of the state”. Following the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, PSA was one of the state laws which was retained under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019.
