Families of several youth taken into preventive detention this year under the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA), which allows detention up to two years without a trial, allege their kin were “shifted to outside jails and held incommunicado’‘ in violation of the provisions of the Act.
“I am not sure if my elder brother is alive or dead. I haven’t heard from him since the Shopian police called him in March this year, as soon as he had finished his lunch that day. We were told he has to stay in the police station for a night. Then days passed by and he was booked under the PSA and first shifted to Kot Balwal, Jammu, and then outside,” Amir Hussian Lone, 19, younger brother of arrested Bilal Lone, told The Hindu.
As per official records, Bilal has been shifted to the Prayagraj Jail, Uttar Pradesh. A resident of Shopian’s Heff Shirmal in south Kashmir, Bilal, who worked in local apple orchards, was first arrested in 2016 for allegedly participating in violent street protests. He was behind bars for around 45 days. However, the then J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti later announced a general amnesty to those facing cases during the 2016 street protests, sparked by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ Burhan Wani. Around 4,327 cases were withdrawn against those who participated in the protests.
