PSA invoked against Masrat Alam; shifted to Jammu jail

Tightening the noose around separatist leader Masarat Alam Bhat, Jammu and Kashmir authorities have again slapped the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against him and shifted him out of the Valley to a jail in Jammu.

The PSA allows detention of a person for a minimum of six months without trial.

Bhat, who was released by the PDP-led government last month after spending over four years in jail under PSA, had been arrested on April 17 on charges of waging war against the country and sedition after he hoisted Pakistani flag and chanted anti-national slogans during a rally organised for hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

"He (Bhat) has been booked under PSA and shifted to Kotbhalwal Jail," District Magistrate Budgam Altaf Ahmad Mir said today.

The 45-year-old hardline leader had been remanded to a seven-day police custody after his arrest.

Police today said he has been sent to Kotbalwal jail in Jammu after being shifted from Srinagar during the night.

He had applied for bail before Chief Judicial Magistrate Budgam which heard the arguments of the prosecution and the petitioner's counsel yesterday. The court has reserved its orders on the bail plea till Saturday.

Police had registered a case against Bhat, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and several other separatist leaders under Sections 121-A (waging war against the country), 124 (Sedition), 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), 147 (rioting) of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) among others. Bhat is the only one to have been arrested so far in the matter.