Jammu temple desecration: PSA detention of accused revoked

The Jammu and Kashmir government has revoked an administrative order slapping Public Safety Act (PSA) on a youth accused of desecrating a temple on the ground that he suffers from "psychiatric disorder".

The home department said on Thursday evening that the detention order issued by the Jammu district administration on June 20 against Yasir for desecrating a temple "is not justified and hence has not been approved".

All PSA detentions in Jammu and Kashmir have to be approved by the home department. The law is seen as harsh and is usually invoked against anti-national elements, smugglers and hardcore criminals.

A person detained under the PSA can be kept in preventive custody for a maximum period of two years without any judicial intervention.

A resident of Doda district, Yasir had allegedly tried to vandalize an ancient Hindu temple in Roop Nagar area of Jammu city on June 14.

The incident triggered violence in the area with protesters torching four vehicles and pelting stones at the local police station.

The state government next day made a statement in the Assembly, saying the youth had been found to be "mentally challenged" after he was interrogated by the police following his arrest.

The opposition MLAs denounced the use of PSA against Yasir in the assembly on Thursday, wondering how could a mentally challenged, who hardly knows the implications of what he has done, be detained under a law meant to deal with anti-national elements.

The state government has now said since this is the first FIR lodged against the youth who has no previous criminal record and as such the normal provisions of law invoked against him by the police should be enough to deal with what he has allegedly done.

--IANS

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