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Shah Faesal Withdraws Plea on ‘Illegal Detention’ From Delhi HC

The ex-IAS officer said there were hundreds of detainees in J&K who have no legal assistance.

Updated
India
3 min read
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Withdrawing his habeas corpus petition on Thursday, 12 September, Kashmiri bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal told the Delhi High Court that he won't seek legal remedies as many others in Kashmir don't have access to them.

Hundreds of residents have been unlawfully detained in Jammu and Kashmir and have no legal assistance, the former IAS officer told the court.
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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told a bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal that they do not admit the contents of the affidavit filed by Faesal's wife to withdraw the petition.

The high court allowed Faesal to withdraw his plea after his wife filed an affidavit in this regard.

Faesal's wife told the high court that she recently met him in custody and has received instructions to withdraw the habeas corpus plea which requires a person under detention or illegal custody to be brought before a court.

"That on 10 September, I (wife) met the petitioner (Faesal) from 11:30 am to 12 noon, in the lobby of the detention centre where he is being held, which is Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar. In this meeting, I received clear oral instructions from the petitioner to withdraw the present petition.”

“The petitioner communicated to me that in consideration of the fact that hundreds of other residents of the state of Jammu and Kashmir have been unlawfully detained in the intervening weeks and have not been released as of yet, being aware of the fact that many or most of the these detenus have no legal counsel or other remedies, he no longer wishes to pursue the present petition as a legal remedy against his unlawful detention. Therefore this court is requested to kindly permit the petitioner to withdraw the present petition.”
The affidavit said.
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Background

The habeas corpus has been filed by "a parokar (next friend)" of Faesal seeking his release.

Faesal's peititon contended that he was "illegally picked up" from the airport while he was on his way to Harvard University in the US where he was going to complete his fellowship.

On 3 September, he had told the court that the Look-Out Circular issued against him was a "mala fide exercise of power" and a "highly suspect exercise for which no reasonable ground is made out".

Faesal, who was stopped from flying abroad last month and sent to Srinagar where he was placed under confinement, also had rebutted the claims of the Jammu and Kashmir government regarding the events of his arrest, and termed its version "patently untrue".

The government had stated that Faesal, who was taken from New Delhi to Srinagar late on 14 August, "upon his arrival in Srinagar, while he was still accompanied with armed security officers, allegedly started to address a large gathering of people inside the arrival terminal and mobilising people, leading to the police allegedly making a report and an Executive Magistrate being brought in person to the airport itself".

In his response, Faesal had stated: "Firstly, the version of the events is implausible because 14 August, which is one day before Independence Day, there was exceptionally heavy security in every part of Srinagar, especially the airport."

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"The number of flights landing in Srinagar in the evening on the 14th, and the number of passengers travelling to Srinagar in the midst of current communication and transport blockades, is naturally very few, so there is no chance of any crowding in the airport... Therefore, it is truly inconceivable that there could have been any 'large gathering' of people."

Faesal also noted that when the plane carrying the petitioner landed in Srinagar, all other passengers were made to wait on board till he made to disembark first, surrounded by special armed security forces, and handed over to security forces in Srinagar.

"Thereafter, the petitioner was surrounded by 10-15 security force personnel... the petitioner was whisked through the airport, put into the car, and taken directly to the detention centre in Srinagar."

Faesal further stated that there was clearly no factual reason to prompt the alleged police report on the subsequent order of detention and the said order has been passed with "mala fide" intent in the absence of any production before a magistrate.

Faesal had knocked the doors of the court against his detention. The plea, filed by his friend, sought the release of the ex-bureaucrat.

Faesal, who quit the Indian Administrative Service in January to form the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples' Movement (JKPM), had been posting tweets and Facebook content highly critical of the government's move abrogating Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and split the state into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.

(With inputs from PTI)

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