Wishesh Magazine February 2020 Wishesh Magazine February 2020 | Page 11

Jammu And Kashmir Public Safety Act-
A Preventive Law
The Public Safety Act was formed in
1978 in Jammu & Kashmir. It is a strict
law that is detains any individual for 2
years without any kind of trial or charge.
In general, if any individual is arrested
under Public Safety Act, there will no
warrant, specific charges and also
without a specifying a period of time.
In certain cases, the Act makes some
amendments for the detained individual.
The amendments are like- specifying the
reason of detention, gives them a chance
of filing a case against their detention
in return. The Act is all over Jammu &
Kashmir with the same provisions. The
detention order under PSA is declared by
the Divisional Commissioner or District
Magistrate.
The Reason Why Public Safety Act is
coming into now is- the former chief
minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq
Abdullah was detained under the Act very
recently. The detention was to keep him
under house arrest as per Article 370.
The one who established this law was
Sheikh Abdullah (Farooq Abdullah’s
father). But the purpose of establishing
PSA was different. It was to prohibit
timber smuggling and arrest the
smugglers. This is a preventive law but
not just a law to punish people.