Former Minister's wife moves SC against detention in J&K

Former Union Minister Prof Saifuddin Soz's wife has approached the Supreme Court with a habeas corpus petition against the detention of the senior Congress leader in Jammu and Kashmir with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution since August 5, 2019.

Her plea claimed that the detention was not only illegal, malafide, and unconstitutional, it was also extremely appalling.

In the petition filed by advocate Sunil Fernandes, Mumtazunnisa Soz contended the octogenarian leader has been illegally and arbitrarily detained for the past ten

months purportedly under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 without having been provided with the materials indicating grounds for it.

"All efforts by him to obtain a copy of the detention order have been of no avail due to the illegal, arbitrary exercise of powers by the Jammu and Kashmir administration," she claimed.

The petitioner contended that the house arrest ordered against Prof Soz was "arbitrary, whimsical and fanciful deserves to be quashed on the anvil of Articles 14, 21 and 22 of the Constitution".

She also pointed out Prof Soz has not committed any breach of peace, neither has he disturbed the public tranquility, nor is he likely to do any wrongful act.

Several senior politicians of Jammu and Kashmir were put under detention in August, last. Former Ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah were subsequently released. Former Chief Minister Mahbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija has also challenged her mother detention before the top court.