Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday
said jails in the Kashmir valley were overcrowded and cited it
as a reason for not shifting senior Hurriyat conference leader
Shabir Ahmad Shah from a prison in Kathua to the Central jail
in Srinagar.
The state filed a Leave Petition Application (LPA) before
a division bench of the high court yesterday challenging the
single bench court`s order to shift 56-year-old Shah.
Justice Yaqoob Mir had directed the authorities on
February 26 to shift the detainee following an application
filed by Shah`s wife Bilquees.
The additional Advocate General A R Magray submitted
before the court of Justice Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain and Justice
Hasnain Masoodi that the detainee had been lodged at Kathua
jail, where every medical facility was available to him. He
said the weather at Kathua is warmer, which is conducive to
his health.
Objecting to the state counsel`s contention, Shah`s
counsel advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom argued "the assertion that
medical facilities are available to the detainee are wrong. He
was not provided medical facility even when he was brought to
Jammu medical college for treatment some days ago.
Quoting the Justice A K Roy judgement of the Supreme
Court, Qayoom said "as a general rule the detainees need to be
lodged nearer to their residence.
However, while justifying the lodgement of the detainee
away from home, an exception has to be carved out but it
should not be arbitrary and malafide".
After hearing both the sides, the division bench
reserved its orders on the LPA.
The District Magistrate Srinagar Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo had
slapped Shah, who has spent over two decades behind bars, with
Public Safety Act (PSA) on February 12.
In the PSA dossier, the authorities alleged that Shah was
involved in inciting youth to resort to violence and stone
pelting.
PTI
