New Delhi, Sep 23 (UNI) Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter has filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court challenging the detention of her mother under Public Safety Act (PSA). Mehbooba was detained on August 5, 2019 when Centre abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated the State into two Union Territories. She is still in detention under stringent PSA. The act allows the administration to keep a person under detention from three months to two years.
Iltija Mufti, Mehbooba’s daughter, has questioned the slapping of the PSA on her mother on February 5 and two its subsequent extensions. She claimed that her case was listed for March 18 before nationwide lockdown was announced and also till yet the Jammu and Kashmir administration has not replied to the notice issued by the Apex Court.
Iltija claimed that her mother was not freed as she, unlike the other political leaders, refused to give in writing that she would not rake up the issue of “special status” and other developments.
“This bond and surety which she was repeatedly asked to sign,… included the promise that: ‘In case of release from detention, I will not make any comment(s) or issue statement(s) or make public speech(s) hold or participate in public assemblies related to the recent events in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, at the present time, since it has the potential of endangering the peace and tranquility and law and order in the State or any part thereof’,” the petition says.
Iltija claimed that even the family members are not allowed to meet Mehbooba except for very few occasions. Mehbooba is currently lodged in in her Gupkar home since April 27, which has been converted into a sub-jail.
The Jammu and Kashmir has released former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and IAS-turned politician Shah Faisal, among others.
