"Abuse Of Authority": J&K High Court Quashes Preventive Detention Order, Pulls Up DM, SSP Kathua For “Tainted Dossier”

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has quashed the preventive detention of a man, calling the action as a “punitive measure in the garb of preventive detention."

The court censured both the District Magistrate, Kathua, and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kathua, for “abuse of position” and “malice in law.”

A bench of Justice Rahul Bharti held that the preventive detention order was passed after an “unjustified delay of four months,” despite the SSP Kathua's dossier painting the petitioner as an imminent threat to public order.

The court noted that such unexplained delay “betrays the urgency which the law demands in preventive detention matters” and renders the action arbitrary.

The court found that the SSP had cited two FIRs from in which the petitioner had already been acquitted, to justify the preventive detention. The court termed this reliance a “feigned narrative” and criticized the SSP for disregarding the fact that an acquittal removes the taint of criminal antecedents.

The court said “It is nothing but an abuse of authority and that the SSP Kathua was acting out of malice in law, if not in fact." It said that citing old, closed cases to sensationalise a detention dossier was wholly improper.

The court was equally disturbed by the casual reference to an alleged earlier preventive detention in 2011, without producing any official record or detention order in support.

The court noted that the only ongoing case cited in the dossier was FIR under Section 420 IPC, relating to alleged cheating. The Court held that this did not rise to the level of disturbing “public order” and, at best, could fall within the realm of a “law and order” situation.

The court also took a serious view of the District Magistrate's role, stating that his failure to act with due dispatch on the dossier showed a lack of application of mind and a poor grasp of constitutional safeguards related to personal liberty. The Court stressed that “ignorance of law is no excuse,” especially for an authority wielding such significant power over citizens' freedoms.

The court held that the entire process as “vitiated from inception,” and quashed the detention order and all subsequent confirmation/extension orders passed by the Home Department of UT of J&K, and directed the immediate release of the petitioner from Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu or any other jail where he is currently lodged.

BACKGROUND:

The petitioner filed the present writ petition before this Hon'ble Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking restoration of his personal liberty.

The detention was ordered by Respondent No. 2 – District Magistrate, Kathua by exercising powers under Section 8 of the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978, on the grounds that the petitioner was a hardened criminal and a threat to public order.

This order was based on a dossier submitted by Respondent No. 3 – Sr. Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kathua through communication in which the petitioner was described as a history-sheeter of Police Station Billawar, involved in organized crime and posing serious threat to public peace.

The SSP alleged that the petitioner's activities have instilled fear among the public, to the extent that ordinary criminal law mechanisms had failed, and that witnesses were unwilling to depose against him due to the climate of fear created by his conduct.

APPEARANCE:

Ajay Gandotra, For Petitioners

Suneel Malhotra, GA For Respondents

Case-Title: Mohd. Abbas vs UT of Jammu and Kashmir and others

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (JKL) 243

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