Jammu, Oct 9: The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has quashed the preventive detention of 65-year-old Din Mohd Wani under the Public Safety Act (PSA), ruling that allegations of bovine smuggling and animal cruelty, without evidence of communal tension or disturbance of public order, cannot justify detention.

A Single Bench of Justice M. A. Chowdhary allowed Wani’s habeas corpus petition challenging a detention order issued by the District Magistrate, Doda. Wani, a resident of Shuryan, Doda, had been detained on the basis of two FIRs related to alleged illegal transportation of bovines and cruelty to animals, along with three Daily Diary Report (DDR) entries.
The authorities argued that such activities could hurt religious sentiments and trigger communal disharmony. However, the Court found that the three DDR entries did not specify any alleged activity by Wani and had not led to criminal cases.
“Merely recording DDRs alleging some acts, without specifying any activity allegedly carried out, cannot be the ground to detain a person,” the Bench observed, questioning why FIRs had not been registered if the alleged acts constituted cognizable offences.
The Court also held that the failure to inform Wani of the time available to submit a representation against his detention violated the safeguards under Article 22(5) of the Constitution. Relying on Jitendra v. District Magistrate, Barabanki (2004), it termed the detention legally unsustainable.
Finding that the grounds of detention substantially reproduced the police dossier, the Court also noted a mechanical application of mind, referring to Supreme Court judgments in Jai Singh v. State of Jammu and Kashmir (1985) and Rajesh Vashdev Adnani v. State of Maharashtra (2005).
On the distinction between law and order and public order, the Bench relied on Hamid Mohd. v. UT of J&K (2024), which dealt with similar allegations of bovine smuggling.
It observed that the FIRs did not specifically allege the transportation of animals revered by a particular community. Nor was there material to establish that the incidents had triggered communal tension or even a law-and-order problem.
“Since the registration of all the cases, which has been made the basis for the passing of the detention order, has neither evoked communal tension nor any problem of ‘law and order’, which is even far away from ‘public order’, is shown to have erupted,” the Court said.
The High Court accordingly quashed the detention order and directed Wani’s immediate release, provided he was not required in any other case.
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