By News Agency of Kashmir
New Delhi : A Division Bench of the Supreme Court today asked the state of Jammu and Kashmir to provide detailed report about the fifty-two detnues from Pakistan occupied Kashmir, who are languishing in various jails of the state.
The bench comprising of Justice B.N Agarwal and Justice PP Naolekar today directed the counsel for the state of J&K to provide a detailed chart about these detnues who have been in different Indian jails under the detention order of the J and K state, detailing the courts where they are being tried and the prisons they have been lodged indicating the period of their detentions.
The order was issued on a petition filed by Prof. Bhim Singh, a noted Chairman of the State Legal Aid Committee against the illegal detentions of 98 persons hailing from PoK.
The government in their rejoinder had admitted that 15 out of 98 have already been deported to Pakistan, 29 have been recommended for deportation, and 53 are facing trial and one died in prison.
The court also directed the counsel for the Union of India to find out about the status of those who were recommended for deportation by J&K government.
The government, sources told News Agency of Kashmir, also admitted that one Muhammad Ashraf Choudhary alias Cobra has completed 9 and half year in jails without trial whereas maximum sentence for the offences could not exceed two years.
The government further claimed that Sofi Zamal son of Buland Khan who had completed 11 ½ years in the Indian jails has been recommended for deportation.
Sources said that in its reply, the government further agreed to deport Sajjad Sajid s/o Mr. Akbar Khan of Rawlakote and Qasim Mehmood s/o Toujeeb Mehmood and Sajjid Ali Jat s/o Sajjad Bhat for deportation.
The state also admitted that Mohd. Abdullah, s/o Abdul Rehman of Mugalpura, Lahore, Tariq Ahmed Lohar, s/o Wahab Lohar, Javed Akhtar Abbasi s/o Hussain Akhtar and Sahid Latif, s/o Abdul Latif, r/o Muzaffarabad have also been recommended for deportation.
The state government admitted in its reply that a detnue Muhammad Farooq Raja s/o Muhammad Sheir of Kotli, POK has been in detention for 12 years whereas maximum sentence for the offences against him could not exceed two years. Similarly, Qudratullah, s/o Asmutullah has completed 12 ½ in prison whereas the maximum punishment could not have exceeded two years.
Prof. Bhim Singh submitted that the state has been acting illegally by keeping the detnues from POK under the wrongful confinement according to their own admissions.
He submitted that those who have outlived the maximum period in prison, more than the punishment they would have got in the offences they have been involved in, deserve to be released forthwith keeping in view the living spirit of Article 21 of the Constitution of India which provides that nobody (even a foreigner) cannot be deprived of his life and liberty without the procedure established by law. The Supreme Court fixed September 17 the final date for hearing the cases.