Amnesty International India has urged Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to repeal the Public Safety Act, which, it said, facilitated “arbitrary detentions and violates international human rights law.”
In an open letter to Mr. Abdullah, the rights body said Amnesty’s research in 2012 found that the manner in which authorities used the Act continued to result in unlawful deprivations of liberty through ‘revolving door’ detentions, detentions of suspected members of separatist groups, torture and other ill-treatment, and denial of medical care while in detention.
Pending repeal of the PSA, the government could end the use of repeated and consecutive detentions designed to keep individuals “out of circulation,” also known as “revolving door detentions.”
It should put a full stop to the lack of transparency on the whereabouts and condition of detainees by making the PSA registry, maintained by the J&K Home Ministry, publicly accessible, particularly to their families and lawyers, AI India said.
