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Journalism of Courage
A day after the Jammu and Kashmir government informed the Supreme Court that it had revoked the Public Safety Act against separatist leader Masrat Aalam,the police Saturday produced him in a Srinagar court in connection with a five year old case. And the court sent him to judicial custody for three days.
Aaalam,who was being held in Kathua Jail in Jammu,has now been shifted to Srinagar Central Jail.
Aalam was brought to the court for a 2008 case registered at the police station in Rainawari and related to the massive Amarnath land row protests that shut Kashmir for much of the summer that year. In 2008 also,like several times before and since,Aalam was arrested and sent to jail under the Public Safety Act.
On Friday,the state government had informed the Supreme Court that the sixth PSA slapped on Aalam since he was again arrested on October 19,2010 had been revoked on March 18. This PSA had been slapped on him after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court quashed the previous five PSAs.
To prevent this from happening again,the Supreme Court has directed the government to give Aalam at least a weeks notice before he is detained again.
We observe that any fresh detention order under the PSA with respect to Masrat Aalam Bhat will not come into force until the authorities inform him advance in a week to enable him to take proper legal recourse, a Bench of Justices R M Lodha and J Chelameswar has said.
