The J&K High Court has given the Lieutenant Governor’s administration a “last and final opportunity” to reveal why Hurriyat chairman and the Valley’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, 50, was being held under “house arrest” in Srinagar.
“Reluctantly and in the interest of justice, one week’s time as prayed for is granted (to the L-G administration) for doing the needful, which however, shall be the last and final opportunity,” judge Wasim Sadiq Nargal observed, as the court sought a reply on the Mirwaiz’s house arrest.
The court has listed the Mirwaiz’s petition for March 6, 2024. “It is made clear, if (a) reply is not filed, then the matter will be heard on the next date of hearing,” the court held.
In a petition filed last year, the Mirwaiz claimed he was detained in 2019 and mentioned that a large contingent of police have been deployed outside his residence in Srinagar. Immediately after filing the petition, the Mirwaiz was allowed to lead prayers at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for around three weeks in the month of September. However, the Mirwaiz’s close aide claimed he was again placed under house arrest after the Israel-Palestine war broke out in October. Since then, the Mirwaiz has been barred from attending prayers at the Jamia Masjid or delivering sermons at any religious function in the Valley’s shrines.
The Mirwaiz had claimed that due to misinformation, he has no other remedy than to approach the court for redressal of his grievances, while seeking “his release from illegal confinement”.
Published - February 22, 2024 02:02 am IST
