Farooq Abdullah detained under Public Safety Act for 12 days

Hours before the Supreme Court was to hear a petition by Rajya Sabha member Vaiko against the detention of Farooq Abdullah, the Home Department of J&K issued orders to detain the Srinagar Member of Parliament under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for 12 days.

A senior government official told media that Dr. Abdullah would be detained initially for 12 days and the period could be extended for another three months if the situation demanded so.

Home Minister Amit Shah told the Parliament on August 6 that Dr. Abdullah was neither detained nor arrested and was in the Valley on his own free will. He made the statement after MPs demanded to know his whereabouts during the discussion on J&K Reorganisation Bill, 2019.

Dr. Abdullah gave an interview the same day to TV channels that Mr. Shah was lying and that he had been



put under house arrest. Hours later, the security officials posted at his residence were suspended.

Even though there were no formal orders yet, Dr. Abdullah had been placed under house arrest like hundreds of other political activists since August 4 night.

As per the latest order, his residence has been declared as a subsidiary jail.

As per section 13 of the PSA “When a person is detained in pursuance of a detention order, the authority making the order shall, as soon as may be, [but ordinarily not later than five days and in exceptional circumstances and for reasons to be recorded in writing, not later than 10 days from the date of detention] communicate to him grounds on which the order has been made, and shall afford him the earliest opportunity of making a representation against the order to the government.”