Release Ahl-e-Hadees president, court to J

Srinagar, Nov 26 (UNI) Quashing the detention of Jamait-Ahl-e-Hadees (JAH) president Moulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA), the Jammu and Kashmir High Court directed the authorities to release him.

Moulana Shah was arrested along with Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Mohammad Yaseen Malik on October 21, a day after they launched anti-election campaign at Hajan in north Kashmir.

They were later shifted to a jail outside the valley.

Moulana Shah, in a writ petition, has challenged his detention in the High Court through his counsel Mian Abdul Qayoum, president of the Kashmir Bar Association (KBA).

Urging that the detention of Moulana Shah under the PSA was illegal, Mian Qayoum said there is no law which prohibits poll boycott campaigning. Every citizen has right to take part in the anti-election boycott campaign, he informed a single bench comprising Justice Hakeem Imtiyaz Hussain during the argument.

Earlier, the defence counsel informed the court that the government has failed to provide medical record of the Moulana Shah despite directions by Justice J P Singh.

He said the court had given two weeks time to the government to present the record of medical check up of the detenue.

Moulana Shah was being accused of participating in the anti-election campaign and having close relations with breakaway Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mr Malik.

Mian Qayoum alleging that Moulana was not being provided any medical facility in Kathua jail, said he was suffering from diabetes and was admitted in the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) at Soura after his arrest but was forcibly discharged by police and taken to Kathua jail.

The court after hearing the defence counsel said the allegation against Moulana Shah were insufficient and directed the government to release him.

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