Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah released after 8 months of detention under PSA

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, said the court should fix a short date for hearing the matter.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration to inform by next week if it is releasing former chief minister Omar Abdullah, who has been detained since the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah told counsel appearing for the Centre that Abdullah’s sister Sara Abdullah Pilot’s plea against his detention will be heard on merit if he is not released soon.

“If you are releasing him, then release him soon or we will hear the matter on merits,” the bench said. The observations came after counsel for the Centre and the Jammu & Kashmir administration informed the court that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing in the matter, is arguing in another court. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, said the court should fix a short date for hearing the matter.

To this the bench said only six benches are functioning due to the ongoing arrangement in the apex court and it does not know when the next turn will come.”Probably next week we are sitting and the matter will be taken up at that time,” the bench said.

In Kashmir, the lockdown has blocked the detainees’ path to justice

The paralysis of the court has seen many crucial issues pushed to the back burner

A few days after repressive measures were imposed in Kashmir in the wake of the dilution of Article 370, a distraught woman banged on the doors of the home of Shopian-based lawyer Habeel Iqbal. She had just learnt her young son – detained in a police station – had been whisked away to a prison outside the state. In the absence of basic communication facilities – even landlines were not functioning – and severe restrictions on movement, it was not possible to help her access justice on that day.

Iqbal could only attend the Shopian district and sessions court 20 days after August 5 and found scarcely any activity there. He learnt that among the hundreds held in detention was someone from the legal fraternity in Shopian. Advocate Zubair Ahmad Bhatt and his father, a former MLA from the People’s Democratic Party, had been detained.

In September, child rights activists – alarmed by mass arrests, many of whom were underage – filed a petition in the Supreme Court expressing concern over the rights of Kashmiris to access the justice system. Hearing the petition, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi declared he was ready, if necessary, to go to Srinagar to ascertain the situation.

On October 3, nearly two months after the restrictions were imposed, I accompanied Iqbal to the J&K high court to try and gauge the impact of the lockdown on the judicial system and the consequent effect on people’s lives…

Read More: Jammu Kashmir Crisis

Jammu & Kashmir special status: Decoding Article 35A and Article 370

While popular notion is that Article 35A and Article 370 give J&K a special state status, the Centre has similar arrangements with several others. We explain the two statutes to demystify the issue

Current Affairs: With speculation rife that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led central government could abolish or try to amend Article 35A and article 370, which give a special status to Jammu & Kashmir, there is a lot of confusion as to what these two statutes entail. Political parties on either side of the debate have voiced their opinion, with some calling tinkering with Article 35A “like setting powder keg on fire”, while others have supported the idea calling it a move to unify of the country.

What is Article 35A?

This provision of the Constitution allows the Jammu & Kashmir state Assembly to define who is and is not a “permanent resident” of the state. To further break it down, this provision of the Constitution gives the legislators from Jammu & Kashmir the exclusive power to determine as to which people in or outside the state will have special rights and privileges granted by the state….

Can Article 35A be amended or repealed?

The repealing of Article 35A could be a legal uphill task for the central government, experts said. For any changes to be made to the provision, the constituent Assembly of the state has to consent to it. The constituent Assembly of the state, however, ceased to exist in 1957. This, constitutional expert Shubhankar Dam said, made seeking nod from the Assembly impossible….