A petition moved before the Delhi High Court on Monday has sought the “immediate release” of former IAS officer Shah Faesal, claiming that he has been illegally detained in Srinagar.
The plea by a Pariokar or next of friend alleged that Mr. Faesal was illegally picked up from the New Delhi airport when on his way to complete his academic fellowship at Harvard University, U.S., on the intervening night of August 14-15.
The case came up for hearing before a Bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, which, however, did not issue notice in the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the Centre would file a response to the plea.
The court will hear the case on August 23.
The petition said Mr. Faesal’s illegal detention followed the abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 by a presidential order on August 5.
“At the immigration counter he [Mr. Faesal] was suddenly taken in for questioning and after that he was illegally detained. He was not allowed to board his international flight and the detaining authorities cancelled his boarding passes,” the petition said.
“The next day, it was learnt through the media that he had not been allowed to travel to Harvard University to complete his fellowship/academic commitments. Instead he has been whisked away to Srinagar,” the plea stated.
It claimed that Mr. Faesal has never committed any crime nor been named in any FIR. He is not part of any ongoing legal proceedings in any court of law and that there are no pending proceedings or cases against him.
Already six days in illegal detention, Mr. Faesal has not been made known of the grounds of arrest or detention, the plea added.
“All the safeguards mentioned in the Cr.PC [Code of Criminal Procedure] before any arrest or detention have been violated. In particular, the petitioner [Mr. Faesal] was not produced before the local magistrate in New Delhi to seek the transit remand,” the plea contended.
“The petitioner has a wife, Iram Rashid, who is a KAS officer and they have a young child Jami, aged around four years. When his wife met him briefly on August 17 at the detention centre, Srinagar, he was looking very frail and was very apprehensive and fearful for his life, physical safety and liberty,” it said.
