JK High Court quashes detention order of Masrat Alam under PSA

Srinagar, Dec 30: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday quashed the detention order of hardliner separatist leader Masrat Alam under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).

A single bench of Justice M.H. Attar quashed the PSA order of the state government under which Alam has been detained.

Authorities had again arrested Alam in September after he was released from Kothbalwal Jail in Jammu following an earlier high court order issued by Justice Hasnain Masoodi in August this year.

Alam had been released by the Mufti Muhammad Sayeed-headed Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state days after it took office here on March 1 this year.

Following hoisting of Pakistani flags at a separatist rally here in April organized and led by Alam, authorities arrested him under the PSA and shifted him to Kothbalwal Jail.

Under the PSA, no bail can be granted to the detainee and the arrest can only be challenged in the high court.  (IANS)