FJA Shortlist 2022
Category: Outstanding Contribution to Peace
Author: Auqib Javeed
As Courts Grant Bail, J&K Govt Uses 43-Year-Old Preventive Detention Law to Keep Hundreds in Jail
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Article 14
May 16, 2022
A surge of arrests in March and April 2022 under Jammu and Kashmir’s draconian Public Security Act, which allows detention without charge, indicates a growing government determination to ensure those so accused, including journalists and human-rights activists, stay in jail, even if courts repeatedly grant bail. Most charges are not backed by evidence and some commonly used accusations are often fanciful: of alleged crimes an accused ‘may’ commit; harbouring ‘radical ideology since childhood’; and aiding terrorists despite being in jail. Read more