The officials issuing detention orders under the Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir are mere rubber stamps. This is a common refrain among rights activists and lawyers fighting PSA cases. They argue that this law has been misused by the state ever since it received the governor’s assent on April 8, 1978.
Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference is the latest high-profile victim of the PSA. He was booked under the law after a month and a half of being detained in his house in Srinagar. Incidentally, it was his father, Sheikh Abdullah, who introduced the PSA.
