Govt sends a chilling message by slapping the PSA on Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti – By Radha Kumar
Last week, Jammu and Kashmir’s draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) was slapped on two more former chief ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, as well as half a dozen other state political leaders.
The charges against them, as revealed by the media, are clearly absurd and, in the case of Mufti, even vulgar. Omar Abdullah and Ali Mohammad Sagar, for example, are accused of being able to bring people out to vote “even at the height of militancy” (sic), which, the charges go on to say, gives them the capacity to incite protests against the voiding of Article 370.
More shocking still, Mufti is called Daddy’s girl and Kota Rani (whose perfervid imagination applied those terms, I wonder?). In 2011, when our group of interlocutors wrote our report, we recommended the removal or amendment of the PSA. “The Act’s sweeping powers,” we said, “make it open to misuse”.…
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/jammu-kashmir-psa-detention-article-370-6261340/
SEE ALSO:
- Liberty at the government’s whim – By Suhrith Parthasarathy (Feb 11, 2020, The Hindu)
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/liberty-at-the-governments-whim/article30785807.ece - A bizarre case – Editorial (Feb 11, 2020, Indian Express)
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/jammu-kashmir-public-safety-act-detention-article-370-6261298/ - Assam to shut aided madrasas, Sanskrit schools: What Constitution says on minority institutes – By Apoorva Mandhani (Feb 14, 2020, The Print)
https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/assam-to-shut-aided-madrasas-sanskrit-schools-what-constitution-says-on-minority-institutes/364958/ - Make No Mistake, a Population Control Policy Will Target the Marginalised – By Alaka M. Basu (Feb 13, 2020, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/rights/india-population-control-policy
