J&K Invokes Public Safety Act

• 19 May 2025

Why in News? 

The Jammu & Kashmir Police have put 23 individuals in preventive detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in Srinagar, citing their role in subversive activities and threats to national security and public order. 

 Key Points 

• About PSA: 
  • The Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (Act No. VI of 1978), is a preventive detention law originally enacted by the former J&K State Legislature and now enforced in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. 
  • Its core objective is to authorise the detention of individuals in order to prevent acts that could threaten state security or disrupt public order. 
  • It is very similar to the National Security Act that is used by other state governments for preventive detention. 
• Key Provisions: 
  • Detention Without Trial: 
    • The PSA allows for the detention of a person without a formal charge and without trial. 
    • It can be slapped on a person already in police custody; on someone immediately after being granted bail by a court. 
    • Unlike in normal circumstances, a person who is detained under the PSA need not be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of the detention. 
  • No Right to File Bail Application: 
    • The detained person does not have the right to move a bail application before the court, and cannot engage any lawyer to represent him or her before the detaining authority. 
  • Section 8 of the PSA: 
    • It provides a vast number of reasons for detention, ranging from “promoting, propagating, or attempting to create, feelings of enmity or hatred or disharmony on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or region” to incitement, instigation, abetment and actual commission of such acts. 
    • It leaves it to district collectors or district magistrates to decide, giving a 12-day period within which an advisory board has to approve the detention. 
  • No Distinction Between Minor and Major Offences: 
    • It allows detention for up to 1 year for disturbance of public order and 2 years for actions prejudicial to the security of the State. 
• Challenging the Detention: 
  • The only legal remedy against an administrative preventive detention order under the PSA is through a habeas corpus petition, typically filed by the detainee’s relatives. 
  • Both the High Court and the Supreme Court have the authority to hear such petitions and may quash the detention order if found unlawful. 
    • However, even if the court sets aside the order, the government retains the power to issue a fresh detention order under the PSA. 
  • Notably, officials who issue such orders are granted legal immunity, and no prosecution or legal proceedings can be initiated against them for exercising this power. 

 National Security Act, 1980 

• The NSA is a preventive detention law enacted in 1980 to maintain public order and national security. 
• Preventive Detention involves the detainment (containment) of a person in order to keep him/her from committing future crimes and/or from escaping future prosecution. 
  • Article 22 (3) (b) of the Constitution allows for preventive detention and restriction on personal liberty for reasons of state security and public order. 
  • Article 22(4) states that no law providing for preventive detention shall authorize the detention of a person for a longer period than three months. 

 Preventive Detention  

• It means the detention of a person without trial and conviction by a court. Its purpose is not to punish a person for a past offence but to prevent him from committing an offence in the near future. 
• The detention of a person cannot exceed three months unless an advisory board reports sufficient cause for extended detention. 
• Grounds for Preventive Detention: 
  • State security 
  • Public order 
  • Foreign Affairs, etc. 

 Habeas Corpus 

• It is a Latin term which literally means ‘to have the body of’. This writ is a bulwark of individual liberty against arbitrary detention. 
• It can be issued against both public authorities as well as private individuals. 
• The writ, on the other hand, is not issued where the: 
  • detention is lawful, 
  • the proceeding is for contempt of a legislature or a court, 
  • detention is by a competent court, and 
  • detention is outside the jurisdiction of the court.