SRINAGAR: J&K high court quashed on Monday former Kashmir Bar Association president Nazir Ahmad Ronga 's preventive detention since July 10 last year on grounds of him being "a threat to public order", saying the allegations levelled against the 76-year-old were "vague". "There has been total non-application of mind on the part of the detaining authority in passing the order," Justice Sanjay Dhar said, directing the state govt to release Ronga immediately. The case filed against Ronga under the J&K Public Safety Act (PSA), among the few laws of the erstwhile state to be retained after the nullification of Article 370 in 2019, accuses him of joining the separatist Hurriyat Conference with the intention of "spreading terrorism and to carry out unlawful activities, including secession of J&K from the Union of India".
Ronga has been accused of organising "anti-national seminars, rallies and various other programmes within court premises to glorify secessionism ". These seminars were attended by "secessionist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yaseen Malik", the dossier states. He was detained last year on the orders of Srinagar's district magistrate to "prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state".
The legislation invoked against him allows the administration to detain a person without trial for up to two years if the individual is considered a threat to order or national security. None of the regular safeguards for an accused under the crim.