NPP chief Bhim Singh on Monday termed the detention of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah under the Public Safety Act as surprising and claimed the law lost its relevance after special status to the state was abrogated on last month.
Singh, a senior executive member of the Supreme Court Bar Association, urged President Ram Nath Kovind to give a clear direction to the state administration to not use rules and laws that have ceased to operate after withdrawal of Article 35A on August 5.
It's a surprise for millions of law knowing people in the country and the lawyers' community that Abdullah has been detained in his own house in Srinagar under an order by the J-K administration under the "outdated" PSA, the National Panthers Party (NPP) leader said in a memorandum to the president.
"I wondered how the administration operating under President's Rule can allow such a law (the PSA) to operate which has lost its constitutional validity itself under President's Rule in J-K after Article 35A was withdrawn," he said.
He urged Kovind to issue appropriate directions to state authorities to release all the prisoners detained under the PSA.
"Since J-K is under President's Rule, it is only the president who is empowered to take appropriate constitutional or legal action vis-a-vis J-K till October 31. It is urged that the president may seek appropriate opinion of the attorney general of India," Singh said.
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