Preventive detention must be justified by adequate grounds and proper application of mind, failing which is deemed illegal.

JUDGMENT :

RAHUL BHARTI, J.

1.This is a writ of habeas corpus which came to be preferred on 14.05.2025 by the petitioner- Muzaffar Farooq Mir (aged 36 years) a resident of Shahzadpora Dangerpora, Tehsil B.K Pora, District Badgam acting through his father- Farooq Ahmad Mir.

2.The petitioner is undergoing detention custody with effect from 05.05.2025 being detained in District Jail, Jammu.

3.The detention of the petitioner came to be ordered by the respondent No.2- District Magistrate Srinagar in terms of an Order No.DMS/PSA/15/2025 dated 03.05.2025, purportedly acting under section 8 of the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, by reckoning that the petitioner’s state of personal liberty is prejudicial to the maintenance of security of the State, thus, warranting its curtailment.

4.A case for preventive detention custody of the petitioner was actually mooted by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar, who vide his communication No. LGL/Det/2025/14226- 29 dated 29.04.2025 submitted a dossier and other connected documents to the respondent No.2- District Magistrate Srinagar, thereby projecting the alleged objectionable and prejudicial state of activities of the petitioner, in the face of which the security of State was likely to be prejudiced.

5.For the purpose of passing the detention order No. DMS/PSA/15/2025 dated 03.05.2025, the respondent No.2- District Magistrate Srinagar, by reading of the dossier as a foundational material, drew grounds of detention for drawing purported subjective satisfaction for ordering the preventive detention of the petitioner.

6.In the grounds of detention so formulated, the respondent No.2- District Magistrate Srinagar refers that an extremist ideology has a strong hold on the petitioner and that he is in constant touch with some people who encouraged him to engage in anti-national activities on the basis of which the petitioner got motivated and indulged in anti-national activities by inciting the Public particularly the young people of the area and the surrounding areas to engage them in illegal activities. The petitioner within a short span of time is said to have become an incorrigible anti-national element of the area.

7.Drawing further from the dossier reference of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar, the respondent No.2- District Magistrate Srinagar, refers the petitioner to be a hardcore active entity in the area posing threat to the locality including educational institutions, business establishments and Government offices and by the given ideology of the petitioner the return of normalcy to the Kashmir valley was reckoned to be getting resisted and that there was a consistent attempt by the ideology of the petitioner to destabilize the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir through unlawful activities.

8.The petitioner is said to have come into contact with active terrorists and OGWs of banned outfit LeT, motivating the petitioner to work for the outfit as an over ground worker for providing logistic support. The petitioner is alleged to have been sharing all sensitive information regarding moment of Police and Security Forces in the area.

9.By reference to FIR No.185/2021 of Police Station Saddar for alleged commission of offences under section 307-IPC, 13/38 UAPA, 7/27 A.Act, the petitioner is said to have been arrested and involved in the case to be bailed out later on, but still remaining bent upon the ways of anti-national and unlawful activities.

10. In the grounds of