New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah has been detained initially for 12 days and kept under house arrest at his Srinagar residence since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5.
According to official sources in Srinagar, his detention period could be extended for another three months if the situation demanded so, under the Public Safety Act (PSA). It can be extended further up to a period of two years.
The decision to slap PSA on the detained NC leader came on Sunday night.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted, “When a former Chief Minister is under arrest, what normalcy are you talking about? Condemning the use of PSA against Dr Abdullah, he said the former CM had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi just a day before the Centre scrapped the Article 370. How can he be a threat if he met the PM of the country?
How can an 80-year-old man be a threat to India? This shows there is no normalcy in J&K, Owaisi added.
Abdullah’s residence in Gupkar area has been declared as subsidiary jail. He will continue to stay in his house. There is, however, no bar on meeting relatives and friends.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and the J&K administration on a plea seeking to produce Abdullah before court.
A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, issued notice to the Centre and the state, on a plea filed by Rajya Sabha MP and MDMK leader Vaiko, fixing the next date of hearing on September 30.
Vaiko, who said he is a close friend of Abdullah for the past four decades, has contended that the NC leader had been deprived of his constitutional rights on account of “illegal detention without any authority of law”.
The top court is hearing a batch of petitions regarding the situation in J&K in the wake of the Centre revoking the “special status” granted to it under Article 370 of the Constitution. The court has also listed for hearing a petition by Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. It will also hear CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury’s plea regarding the detention of party leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami.
