New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the Jammu and Kashmir administration on a plea filed by octogenarian Congress leader Saifuddin Soz’s wife challenging his house arrest since August 5 last year. The court, however, refused to grant an early hearing, posting the matter in July.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Soz, sought a shorter date and urged a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee to hear the matter next week. But in a setback to Soz, Justice Mishra posted the matter for hearing in the second week of July. Citing Omar Abdullah’s case, Singhvi argued that in similar matters earlier, notice was issued and shorter dates have led to the release of the people. Singhvi contended that the house arrest was made without a single document. But, Justice Mishra refused to budge.
Soz’s wife, Mumtazunnisa Soz, in the plea said ten months have passed since his first detention, and he is yet to be informed of the grounds of his detention. Soz’s wife said her husband has always advocated for the Union of India and consistently upheld the constitutional principles, respect for the nation and vehemently opposed the separatist or anti-India voices in Jammu and Kashmir.
Soz’s wife in the petition, filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes, said her husband’s detention was wholly contrary and perverse to the constitutional safeguards laid down under Article 21 and 22 of the Constitution, as well as the law on preventive detention.
She insisted that her husband has consistently demonstrated an unwavering loyalty to the Constitution even in the face of the separatist threats, and therefore cannot be considered by any stretch of imagination to be a threat to the public safety. “Not only does it attract the vice of unconstitutionality, it is also in stark contravention of the statutory scheme of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”), under which the detention has purportedly been made”, argued the plea, urging the top court to quash Soz’s detention.