The Supreme Court sought response from the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration on a plea seeking to produce before court former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who is allegedly under detention following the scrapping of Article 370.
Agencies
New Delhi, September 16:
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre on a plea over the detention of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by MDMK chief Vaiko who had moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration to produce Farooq Abdullah, allegedly under detention following the abrogation of Article 370, before the court.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices SA Bobde and SA Nazeer issued a notice to the Centre and the state, and fixed Rajya Sabha MP and MDMK leader Vaiko’s plea for hearing on September 30.
Vaiko’s lawyer said there are conflicting claims on the detention of Farooq Abdullah. While in parliament, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had claimed that Farooq Abdullah is not under detention, Vaiko claimed there was still no freedom of movement for the National Conference chief.
“Union home minister said Farooq Abdullah was not under any kind of detention, but we don’t know his whereabouts,” MDMK leader Vaiko’s counsel told SC.
While hearing the habeas corpus plea, CJI Ranjan Gogoi asked the government if Farooq Abdullah is under any kind of detention.
However, appearing for the government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that Vaiko has no locus standi (right to bring an action to be heard in court) in the habeas corpus case as he is not a family member of Farooq Abdullah.
A habeas corpus is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.
The decision came a day after the Home Ministry decided to detain Farooq Abdullah under the Public Safety Act. The former chief minister had been under house arrest since August 5. Now, he has been detained at his residence by the MHA under PSA and his house declared as Subsidiary Jail.
The decision to slap the PSA on the NC leader came Sunday night, on the eve of the hearing of MDMK leader Vaiko’s habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court, where the absence of any papers justifying the arrest would have been a major embarrassment for the Centre.
The plea
In his plea, Vaiko had said that authorities should allow Farooq 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.
Vaiko, who said he is a close friend of Abdullah for past four decades, contended that constitutional rights conferred on the National Conference (NC) leader “have been deprived of on account of illegal detention without any authority of law”.
Vaiko said he had written a letter to the authorities on August 29 to allow Abdullah to travel to Chennai to attend the conference but they have not responded.
He said that he had spoken to Abdullah over the phone on August 4 and had invited the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister to attend the conference on September 15.
He claimed Abdullah had “verbally communicated” that he would be glad to attend the conference but on August 5, Abdullah along with other political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir were placed under “wrongful detention”.
The Centre had on August 5 revoked Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and proposed that the state be bifurcated into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
