India Today, New Delhi :
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah has been detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA). He has been kept under house arrest at his Srinagar residence since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5.
Farooq Abdullah has now been detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. PSA allows the government to detain a person for upto 2 years without a trial. The decision to slap PSA on the National Conference leader came on Sunday night. Farooq Abdullah has been detained at his residence by the government under PSA and his house has been declared as subsidiary jail. He will continue to stay in his house. There is however no bar on meeting relatives and friends. Earlier, Kashmiri leader Shah Faesal was also detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration on a plea seeking to produce Farooq Abdullah before court. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer issued notice to the Centre and the state, and fixed Rajya Sabha MP and MDMK leader Vaiko’s plea for hearing on September 30. Vaiko, who said he is a close friend of Abdullah for the past four decades, has contended that constitutional rights conferred on the National Conference leader had been deprived of on account of “illegal detention without any authority of law”. Over 50 politicians and leaders in Kashmir have either been detained or put under house arrest following the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. Top politicians and separatist leaders of Kashmir, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have also been kept under house arrest for over 40 days. Farooq Abdullah was also under house arrest till now. Earlier, speaking in the Parliament following the move on Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah said that Farooq Abdullah is unwilling to come out of the house and he is not under any arrest. Shah also said that the government cannot force Abdullah at gunpoint to come out of the house.
