Jailed for backing terror, lawyer set to be freed

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Monday quashed the detention order of senior lawyer Nazir Ahmad Ronga, who has been in custody since July last year for his “anti-national” activities and pushing forward the ideology of terrorism and secessionism. In his order, Justice Sanjay Dhar said Ronga’s petition is allowed and the impugned detention order quashed.

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“The respondents are directed to release the petitioner from the preventive custody forthwith, provided he is not required in connection with any other case,” Justice Dhar said. A former president of Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Ronga (who is in his late 60s) was arrested in July last year and booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). He is seen as a close aide of Mian Abdul Qayoom, who is also detained under the PSA.