J-K HC quashes detention of 2 people under PSA

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has quashed the detention of two people under the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA), officials said on Tuesday.

Justice Ali Mohammad Magray passed orders, quashing the detention under the PSA of Mohammad Ashraf Ganaie of Sopore and Imtiyaz Pahloo of Srinagar, on Monday, the officials said.

While Ganaie was detained under the PSA for his alleged involvement in timber smuggling, Pahloo was detained under the controversial law for his alleged involvement in stone-pelting incidents, they said.

The PSA was enacted by the government headed by National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1978 as a deterrent to curb felling of green trees in the forests of Jammu and Kashmir but the law was later used to detain separatist leaders and their sympathisers following the onset of militancy in the state in 1990.

Three-time chief minister Farooq Abdullah, son of the National Conference founder, was detained under the PSA by the administration following the abrogation of Article 370 provisions.