STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Justice Mohd Akram Chowdhary upheld detention under Public Safety Act of an Over Ground Worker of banned terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Zahoor Ahmad Shah.
While upholding detention under PSA of detenue, Justice Mohammad Akram Chowdhary observed that those who are responsible for national security or for maintenance of public order must be sole arbitrators of what the national security, public order or security of State requires. “Preventive detention is devised to afford protection to society. The object is not to punish a man for having done something but to intercept before he does it and to prevent him from doing. Justification for such detention is suspicion or reasonable probability and not criminal conviction, which can only be warranted by legal evidence. Thus, any preventive measures, even if they involve some restraint or hardship upon individuals, as said by Supreme Court in the case ‘Ashok Kumar vs Delhi Administration & Others’, do not contribute in any way of the nature of punishment. Observing that object of preventive detention is not to punish a man for having done something but to intercept and to prevent him from doing so; preventive detention is devised to afford protection to society. The rulings on the subject have consistently taken view that preventive detention is devised to afford protection to society. The object is not to punish a man for having done something but to intercept before he does it and to prevent him from doing so,” the Court observed and dismissed the petition.