HC quashes Pulwamaman’s PSA detention, slams police for ‘half-backed’ dossier

02/04/2026

JAMMU, Apr 1: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh at Srinagar has quashed the preventive detention of Umer Rashid Dar under the J&K Public Safety Act, holding that the detention was vitiated by illegality after the court found that the police had withheld a crucial fact relating to his earlier detention.
Justice Rahul Bharti, while allowing the habeas corpus petition, held that the omission by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, to disclose the petitioner's earlier preventive detention before the District Magistrate had fatally affected the entire exercise of jurisdiction under the PSA. The court observed that the police had fed the detaining authority with "half backed factual inputs with a malice in law if not on fact."
As per the judgment, Umer Rashid Dar, 25, had been detained under Detention Order No. 13/DMP/PSA/25 dated April 30, 2025, passed by the District Magistrate, Pulwama, on the basis of a dossier submitted by the SSP, Pulwama. The dossier alleged that the detainee was involved in activities prejudicial to the security of the State, including maintaining contact with militants, providing logistical support & sharing movement information of security forces.
The petitioner, through counsel Mr. G.N. Shaheen, Advocate, with Mr.Asif Nabi, Advocate, challenged the detention on multiple grounds, including vagueness, non-application of mind and repetition of stale grounds already relied upon in his earlier detention. The respondents were represented by Mr.Furkan Yaqoob Sofi, GA.
The court noted that the petitioner had earlier been detained under a 2020 PSA order, which was quashed by the High Court in November 2020. However, while the fresh dossier made repeated reference to FIR No. 29/2020, it conspicuously omitted mention of the earlier detention and its quashment. The court found this omission significant and held that such concealment deprived the District Magistrate of the full factual background necessary for arriving at a lawful subjective satisfaction.
In a strong observation, the court held that this "singular omission" had "infested" the very exercise of jurisdiction under the PSA with an incurable illegality, rendering the detention illegal and an abuse of law. On this basis, the court quashed not only the original detention order dated April 30, 2025, but also the approval, confirmation and extension orders issued by the Home Department of the Union Territory of J&K.
With the petition allowed, the High Court directed that the detainee be restored to his personal liberty forthwith and ordered the concerned jail superintendent to release him immediately, if not required in any other case.

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