4 months ago
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The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) High Court connected Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) of J&K erstwhile Chief Minister and People Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti connected shifting Kashmiri prisoners from extracurricular jails to the Union Territory, saying it appeared arsenic “driven by governmental considerations alternatively than genuine nationalist interest”.
“The petition was lacking worldly documents and grounded successful ambiguity and rested connected incomplete, vague and unsubstantiated assertions. The bonzer jurisdiction of PIL could not beryllium invoked based connected generalised claims without naming affected persons, challenging circumstantial orders oregon placing verifiable worldly connected record,” a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal, observed.
The High Court besides underscored that a PIL was meant to beforehand the origin of marginalised and susceptible sections who are incapable to attack courts themselves and “not arsenic a conveyance for governmental mobilisation oregon publicity”.
“PIL cannot beryllium allowed to beryllium utilised arsenic an instrumentality for advancing partisan oregon governmental agendas oregon transforming the tribunal into a governmental platform. Courts cannot service arsenic forums for electoral campaigns oregon governmental leverage,” the Bench held.
In October this year, Ms. Mufti moved a PIL earlier the tribunal connected shifting section under-trial prisoners to J&K from each jails outside. The PIL besides pleaded that transfers of undertrials extracurricular the U.T. should beryllium allowed lone if the authorities demonstrated “unavoidable and compelling necessity”.
The J&K court, however, underlined that the petition stated that “a batch of household members of undertrials” had approached Ms. Mufti, “without disclosing their identities, the fig of specified prisoners, the quality of cases against them oregon the circumstantial transportation orders nether which they were lodged extracurricular the U.T.”.
Referring to the “violent past” of J&K, the tribunal said peculiar information circumstances often necessitated the transportation of definite undertrials extracurricular the U.T. “Any undertrial aggrieved by detention oregon transportation to a situation extracurricular J&K tin individually attack the competent tribunal to situation the legality of specified an order,” the tribunal added.
The tribunal underlined that determination was “existence of a robust ineligible assistance model nether the Legal Services Authorities Act, monitored by the Supreme Court and the High Court”.
“It further weakened the petitioner’s assertion of acting connected behalf of voiceless prisoners. The lack of adjacent a azygous undertrial approaching the tribunal done ineligible assistance channels oregon different was seen arsenic indicative that those detained extracurricular the U.T. were not genuinely aggrieved, oregon astatine slightest had not chosen to prosecute disposable remedies. In specified circumstances, the tribunal held, a governmental person could not assertion locus standi to espouse their origin done a sweeping PIL,” the tribunal said.
The tribunal further observed that Ms. Mufti was, successful effect, a third-party alien to the alleged grievances and “had failed to found bona fide nationalist interest”.
