Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 :

The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) is a preventive detention law under which a person is taken into custody to prevent them from acting harmfully against "the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order" in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir (now a union territory). Whereas PSA applies only to Jammu and Kashmir, it is very similar to the National Security Act that is used by the central and other state governments of India for preventive detention.

It was introduced by the then-Chief Minister, Sheikh Abdullah, in 1978 to ostensibly stop the smuggling of timber. However, the political motives behind the law became clearer when Sheikh Abdullah used it for the first time against political rivals. Since its usage in the late 1970s, it is still being used today for "the security of the state". Following the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, PSA was one of the state laws which was retained under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019.

In 2015, the government made public the figure of 16,329 persons having been detained under the act since 1988, nearly all from Kashmir. National Crime Records Bureau records only 16 women detentions in the period 1995-2008.In February 2020, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India by Bhim Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party terming PSA "as dead and ultra vires"

Background and History :

The Preventive Detention Act of 1950 came into force within a month after the Constitution of India came into force. While enacted for only one year, it was renewed year after year until 31 December 1969. The next major preventive detention legislation came in the form of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act of 1971.

Currently the provision for preventive detention in India exists under the Code of Criminal Procedure, which draws its roots from laws in British India.The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act of 1978 is only one of the acts in India that cater to prevention detention at a state level. While some states have their own preventive detention acts, there are four central acts covering preventive detention at a national level: the National Security Act (NSA) of 1980, the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) of 1974, the Prevention of Black Marketing & Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act of 1980, and the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988.The time duration of detention permitted under these acts varies from 24 hours to over a year.

Timber smuggling :

Timber smuggling is a major threat in Jammu and Kashmir. By some estimates this trade is worth tens of millions pounds a year.The smuggling industry involves bureaucrats, families of ministers, and traders. In 2006, the Forestry Minister of the state said there are isolated cases in the forestry department, police, and army which have a connection with smugglers.In 2016, more than 700 people were booked for timber smuggling in the state, including 75 forestry officials.Out of these, eight persons were detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for repeated forestry offences.In 2019, fifteen timber smugglers were arrested during nocturnal raids.

Ostensibly, to help curb timber smugglers the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act was passed in 1978.
  
Implementation :

While the PSA was initially portrayed as an act to combat timber smuggling in the state, the act has been used to quell dissent and "keep people out of circulation". According to a Human Rights Watch report in 1990: "the act establishes a legal procedure which, while technically consistent with international standards, in practice falls short of international due process and fair trial standards".During PSA detention, the detainee can be lodged in any suitable prison or subsidiary jail (such as a house) in India without a warrant, trial, or court hearing for a maximum of one or two years.The law has been criticized for allowing arbitrary detentions and immunity from prosecution.

Numerous people have been detained under the PSA in the recent past, including three former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir—namely Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah (Farooq and Omar are the son and grandson respectively of Sheikh Abdullah[, and Mehbooba Mufti. Notably, Omar Abdullah, who is currently detained under the act, refused to revoke the act during his tenure as Chief Minister, saying that there are enough inbuilt safeguards to prevent the act's misuse.Others include Masarat Alam, Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi and Shah Faesal. Shah Faesal was booked under PSA in 2019 and 2020 for a number of reasons, including "soft separatism".

Following the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, numerous people were detained under PSA and CrPC; and as of 11 March 2020, 396 persons were still detained under PSA.

Criticism :

During a preventive detention case under PSA in 1982, the Supreme Court of India said: "danger looms large that the normal criminal trials and criminal courts set up for administering justice will be substituted by detention laws often described as lawless law".

Indian lawyer and constitutional expert A. G. Noorani said PSA is "patently, manifestly and demonstrably unconstitutional", adding that it is a way of bypassing "civilized jurisprudence" and "a devious way to imprison political opponents"."The upper limit on the period of detention is frequently violated" notes historian Mridu Rai. Mohmad Aabid Bhat writes in Insight Turkey that the excuse of "public order" and "security" is being used to justify inhumane laws such as PSA.

A report by Observer Research Foundation titled "Life in Kashmir after Article 370" dated 28 January 2020 recommended the immediate repeal of the PSA.