The J&K High Court on Wednesday quashed the detention of Majid Hyderi, an independent journalist and television debater, after over 17 months of jail under the preventive detention law, Public Safety Act (PSA).
Justice V.K. Chatterjee quashed the order after hearing the plea, said advocate Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, who represented Mr. Hyderi.
Mr. Hyderi was arrested on September 14, 2023, in Srinagar and was subsequently booked under the PSA. He was shifted around 300 km away from Srinagar and lodged at the Kot Bhalwal Jail in the Jammu region.
Before being slapped with the PSA – a law that allows detention for two years without a trial – Mr. Hyderi faced charges of “criminal conspiracy, extortion, spreading false information, and defamation”. A local journalist had filed a complaint against Mr. Hyderi over his write-ups.
HC dismisses plea
In a separate case, the High Court dismissed a petition filed by advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom, a former president of High Court Bar Association, Kashmir, who remains behind bars since December 19, 2024.
Mr. Qayoom, 80, is also booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA). He had been in jail in the past too for his association with separatist Hurriyat. He was arrested in August 2019 and released in 2020 after his “health deteriorated in jail”.
In December, 2024, the J&K Police said oral, documentary and technical evidence pointed at his alleged role in the assassination of advocate Babar Qadri in 2020.
