Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, J&K Administration Revokes PSA Detention Orders Of 18 More People

The administration of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Monday (6 April) revoked the Public Safety Act (PSA) detention orders against 18 people, reports Times of India.

The 18 individuals against whom the PSA was imposed were lodged in three different jails in Srinagar, Jammu and Pulwama.

According to the report, with the release of these 18 people, the number of PSA detainees released have increased to 65.

The move comes amid the rising of the Coronavirus infection in the country including in the newly-created UT.

A few individuals continue to be under detention in the UT, including the former chief minister (CM) of the erstwhile state, Mehbooba Mufti who is also the chief of the regional political outfit Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Those detained also include mainstream politicians and former state government minister Sajjad Gani Lone who heads the Peoples Conference (PC).

Many regional politicians had been detained under PSA by the administration to contain the volatile security situation in the Kashmir Valley after the Parliament in August diluted the contentious Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the erstwhile state of J&K into two separate UTs of J&K, and Ladakh.

Recently, former CM Omar Abdullah was released from the detention by the J&K administration.