Masarat Alam booked under fresh PSA order

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 14

Hardline separatist Masarat Alam Bhat has again been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and lodged at Hira Nagar Jail in the Jammu region.

The latest PSA detention order, 37th in a row, was issued by the Baramulla Deputy Commissioner. Masarat, who heads pro-Pakistan Muslim league, is a senior leader in the Hurriyat faction led by Syed Ali Geelani.

On September 7, a single bench of the J&K High Court had dismissed Masarat’s petition challenging his 36th PSA detention order, observing that “he is not an innocent person” and had also linked his detention with terrorism.

Masarat had challenged the decision before a division bench, which subsequently allowed his habeas corpus petition and quashed his 36th PSA detention order. However, he was not released and taken to the Joint Interrogation Centre, Jammu, from Kot Bhalwal Jail, where he was lodged earlier, a Hurriyat activist said.

He added that a fresh PSA detention order was issued against him by the Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla. On Wednesday, he was detained under it and shifted to Hira Nagar Jail.

Earlier, Masarat was detained and booked under the PSA following the 2010 unrest that left over 100 people dead in the Kashmir valley. Though he was released in early 2015 for a brief period, he was rearrested on April 17 from his home in the Habbakadal area of Srinagar city. On April 23, 2015, he was booked under the PSA amid mounting outrage over his raising of pro-Pakistan slogans at a Geelani rally on April 15 in the Hyderpora area.