Misplaced Pages

#675324

115-530: 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

230-502: 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". The report gives an example of the grounds on which the PSA was applied on a person in 1987: Besides being a member of JEI ( Jamaat-e-Islami ) an organisation which is anti-national in character, [you] have always been challenging

345-636: A territorial dispute : Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and the People's Republic of China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). India controls the majority of the Siachen Glacier area, including the Saltoro Ridge passes, whilst Pakistan controls

460-409: A boundary dispute that began in the late 19th century and continues into the 21st. Although some boundary agreements were signed between Great Britain, Afghanistan and Russia over the northern borders of Kashmir, China never accepted these agreements, and China's official position has not changed following the communist revolution of 1949 that established the People's Republic of China. By the mid-1950s

575-412: A complete bar on legal proceedings against any officials for anything done or intended to be done in good faith in pursuance of the provisions of this Act. The Act is widely criticized for being undemocratic and against the principles of a free society. Nowadays, the people who had once passed this act are suffering from the same. Many sections of the act violate major international treaties to which India

690-642: A course through the entire Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan. Almost all the rivers originating in these region are part of the Indus river system. After reaching the end of the Great Himalayan range, the Indus turns a corner and flows southwest into the Punjab plains. The Jhelum and Chenab rivers also follow a course roughly parallel to this, and join the Indus river in southern Punjab plains in Pakistan. The geographical features of

805-472: A detention order to prevent anyone from acting in a manner prejudicial to the "security of the State or the maintenance of the public order". Under Section 13 of the act, the detaining authority is required to inform the person detained, the grounds of detention within 10 days of detention in a language they understand. However sub-section 2, allows the authority to hold back any information that it considers "against

920-557: A form of preventive detention. Australia laws authorize preventive detention in a variety of circumstances. In New South Wales , preventive detention regimes, such as Serious Crime Prevention Orders ('SCPOs'), allow the state to detain, continuously monitor, and limit particular activities of those convicted of serious sexual and violent offences. A range of state officials may apply to the NSW courts to create an SCPO consisting of conditions deemed appropriate, such as an obligation to report to

1035-535: A guerrilla onslaught meant to frighten its ruler into submission. Instead the Maharaja appealed to Mountbatten for assistance, and the governor-general agreed on the condition that the ruler accede to India. Indian soldiers entered Kashmir and drove the Pakistani-sponsored irregulars from all but a small section of the state. The United Nations was then invited to mediate the quarrel. The UN mission insisted that

1150-610: 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

1265-503: A part of its territory, while Pakistan claims the entire region excluding Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract. The two countries have fought several declared wars over the territory. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 established the rough boundaries of today, with Pakistan holding roughly one-third of Kashmir, and India one-half, with a dividing line of control established by the United Nations. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 resulted in

SECTION 10

#1732848320676

1380-540: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India by Bhim Singh of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party terming PSA "as dead and ultra vires ." 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 2010, an Amnesty International report estimated there had been 10,000 to 20,000 arrests under

1495-528: 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 ". 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

1610-468: A police station and prohibitions on travelling beyond a certain region. Failure to comply with an SCPO carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment. SCPOs have been described as a "watershed extension of state power in New South Wales" by legal academics, and were strongly opposed by the legal community when they were introduced. In Costa Rica , the 1998 Criminal Proceedings Code allows for

1725-437: A pre-trial remand of 12 months if the person is considered a "flight risk". If the case is considered complex in nature, the detention can be increased to up to three and a half years or more of imprisonment. As of 23 May 2013, over 3,000 people were in pre-trial detention. In cases that connected to riots or other situations involving public safety risks, the police can detain a person for up to twelve hours without involving

1840-508: A qualifying sexual or violent offence, and the court is satisfied that the person is likely to commit another qualifying sexual or violent offence if they were given a determinate sentence of imprisonment. Preventive detention has a minimum non-parole period of five years in prison, but the sentencing judge can extend this if they believe that the prisoner's history warrants it. A total of 314 people were serving terms of preventive detention in 2013, of whom 34 were on parole. Alfred Thomas Vincent

1955-527: A right to be immediately informed about the grounds of the arrest, which also applies to preventive and administrative detentions. And at the same time, the Sub-Section 2, allows the authorities to withhold any information that it considers "to be against public interest" to disclose, which has been abused many times by the authorities to withhold significant information from the person detained. Such provisions of non-disclosure are in violation of Article 9(2) of

2070-468: A stalemate and a UN-negotiated ceasefire. The Kashmir region lies between latitudes 32° and 36° N , and longitudes 74° and 80° E . It has an area of 68,000 sq mi (180,000 km ). It is bordered to the north and east by China (Xinjiang and Tibet), to the northwest by Afghanistan (Wakhan Corridor), to the west by Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab) and to the south by India (Himachal Pradesh and Punjab). The topography of Kashmir

2185-557: A suspect can be for up to 23 days without charge. The length of detention, up to the maximum period, is at the discretion of the public prosecutor and subject to the approval of local courts. It can also be extended. In Malaysia the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) was a preventive detention law that was enacted after Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. The ISA allowed for detention without trial or criminal charges under limited, legally defined circumstances. The ISA

2300-614: A year. The Public Safety Act has its roots in the Defence of India Act of 1915 , passed during British rule, and later in the 1946 Public Security Act which was used by the British to repress the Quit Kashmir Movement. This was replaced in 1954 with a temporary Preventive Detention Act by the Jammu and Kashmir government, which was again ratified in 1958 followed by numerous amendments leading to

2415-528: Is 12,541,302; that of Pakistan-administered territory of Azad Kashmir is 4,045,366; and that of Gilgit-Baltistan is 1,492,924. Kashmir's economy is centred around agriculture . Traditionally the staple crop of the valley was rice, which formed the chief food of the people. In addition, Indian corn, wheat, barley and oats were also grown. Given its temperate climate , it is suited for crops like asparagus , artichoke, seakale, broad beans, scarletrunners, beetroot, cauliflower and cabbage. Fruit trees are common in

SECTION 20

#1732848320676

2530-406: Is a signatory, with the likes of ICCPR . Under international human rights law, restrictions on liberty must obey the principle of legality: they must be adequately accessible and precise so that people can regulate their conduct according to it. However, the PSA does not define "security of the state", and provides a vague and over-broad understanding of "public order". The operative provisions of

2645-801: Is an archaic spelling of modern Kashmir, and in some countries it is still spelled this way. Kashmir is called Cachemire in French, Cachemira in Spanish, Caxemira in Portuguese, Caixmir in Catalan, Casmiria in Latin, Cașmir in Romanian, and Cashmir in Occitan . In the Kashmiri language , Kashmir itself is known as Kasheer . The Government of India and Indian sources refer to

2760-511: Is dominated by oaks ( Quercus spp.) and Rhododendron spp. The Blue Pine (Finns excelsa) Zone with Cedrus deodara , Abies pindrow and Picea smithiana occur at elevations between 2,800 and 3,500 m. The Birch (Betula utilis) Zone has Herbaceous genera of Anemone , Geranium , Iris , Lloydia , Potentilla and Primula interspersed with dry dwarf alpine scrubs of Berberis , Cotoneaster , Juniperus and Rhododendron are prevalent in alpine grasslands at 3,500 m and above. Kashmir

2875-602: Is home to rare species of animals, many of which are protected by sanctuaries and reserves. The Dachigam National Park in the Valley holds the last viable population of Kashmir stag (Hangul) and the largest population of black bear in Asia. In Gilgit-Baltistan the Deosai National Park is designated to protect the largest population of Himalayan brown bears in the western Himalayas. Snow leopards are found in high density In

2990-496: Is mentioned to have resided in the land of kashmira , or which might have been a reference to the Sharada Peeth . The Ancient Greeks called the region Kasperia , which has been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus of Miletus ( apud Stephanus of Byzantium ) and Kaspatyros of Herodotus (3.102, 4.44). Kashmir is also believed to be the country meant by Ptolemy 's Kaspeiria . The earliest text which directly mentions

3105-536: Is mostly mountainous. It is traversed mainly by the Western Himalayas . The Himalayas terminate in the western boundary of Kashmir at Nanga Parbat . Kashmir is traversed by three rivers namely Indus , Jhelum and Chenab . These river basins divide the region into three valleys separated by high mountain ranges. The Indus valley forms the north and north-eastern portion of the region which include bare and desolate areas of Baltistan and Ladakh. The upper portion of

3220-521: Is referred as a beauty spot of the medicinal and herbaceous flora in the Himalayas. There are hundreds of different species of wild flowers recorded in the alpine meadows of the region. The botanical garden and the tulip gardens of Srinagar built in the Zabarwans grow 300 breeds of flora and 60 varieties of tulips respectively. The later is considered as the largest Tulip Garden of Asia. Kashmir region

3335-515: Is that it is land desiccated from water. An alternative etymology derives the name from the name of the Vedic sage Kashyapa who is believed to have settled people in this land. Accordingly, Kashmir would be derived from either kashyapa-mir (Kashyapa's Lake) or kashyapa-meru (Kashyapa's Mountain). The word has been referenced to in a Hindu scripture mantra worshipping the Hindu goddess Sharada and

3450-727: Is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent . Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range . The term has since come to encompass a larger area that includes the India-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh , the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan , and

3565-430: 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

Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-406: Is usually used to detain offenders are deemed a threat to society, with the purpose of isolating them for the protection of society. For example, in 2004, Chong Keng Chye was sentenced to 20 years of preventive detention for abusing a child to death and for various cheating offences. He had several past convictions for cheating and violent crimes since he was 16. In another case, Rosli Yassin ,

3795-498: 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

3910-569: The Chinese army had entered the north-east portion of Ladakh. By 1956–57 they had completed a military road through the Aksai Chin area to provide better communication between Xinjiang and western Tibet . India's belated discovery of this road led to border clashes between the two countries that culminated in the Sino-Indian War of October 1962. The region is divided amongst three countries in

4025-522: The Hemis National Park in Ladakh. The region is home to musk deer , markhor , leopard cat , jungle cat , red fox , jackal , Himalayan wolf , serow , Himalayan yellow-throated marten , long-tailed marmot , Indian porcupine , Himalayan mouse-hare , langur and Himalayan weasel . At least 711 bird species are recorded in the valley alone with 31 classified as globally threatened species. In

4140-564: The ICCPR but also undermines the right to challenge the legality of detention set out in Article 9(4). Everyone has a right to a remedy under international human rights law and standards. However, Section 22 of the Public Safety Act, provides a complete bar on criminal, civil or "any other legal proceedings...against any person for anything done or intended to be done in good faith in pursuance of

4255-456: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court annulled the detention orders in 81% of the admitted 941 cases. 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. Public Safety Act allows administrative detention of: Under Section 8 of the act, a Divisional Commissioner or a District Magistrate, both executive authorities, may issue

4370-606: The Kashmir Valley . He became a wealthy and influential noble in the Sikh court. In 1845, the First Anglo-Sikh War broke out. According to The Imperial Gazetteer of India : Gulab Singh contrived to hold himself aloof till the battle of Sobraon (1846), when he appeared as a useful mediator and the trusted advisor of Sir Henry Lawrence . Two treaties were concluded. By the first the State of Lahore (i.e. West Punjab) handed over to

4485-603: The Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south. Capital towns of the region are Leh and Kargil . It is under Indian administration and was part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir until 2019. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in the area and is mainly inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. Aksai Chin is a vast high-altitude desert of salt that reaches altitudes up to 5,000 metres (16,000 ft). Geographically part of

4600-664: The Northern Areas , is a group of territories in the extreme north, bordered by the Karakoram , the western Himalayas , the Pamir , and the Hindu Kush ranges. With its administrative centre in the town of Gilgit , the Northern Areas cover an area of 72,971 square kilometres (28,174 sq mi) and have an estimated population approaching 1 million (10 lakhs ). Ladakh is between

4715-609: The Tibetan Plateau , Aksai Chin is referred to as the Soda Plain. The region is almost uninhabited, and has no permanent settlements. Though these regions are in practice administered by their respective claimants, neither India nor Pakistan has formally recognised the accession of the areas claimed by the other. India claims those areas, including the area "ceded" to China by Pakistan in the Trans-Karakoram Tract in 1963, are

Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-620: The brahmin Kashmiri Pandits . To the northeast, sparsely populated Baltistan had a population ethnically related to that of Ladakh, but which practised Shia Islam . To the north, also sparsely populated, Gilgit Agency was an area of diverse, mostly Shia groups, and, to the west, Punch was populated mostly by Muslims of a different ethnicity than that of the Kashmir valley. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , in which Kashmir sided with

4945-592: The paramountcy (or tutelage ) of the British Crown , lasted until the Partition of India in 1947, when the former princely state of the British Indian Empire became a disputed territory , now administered by three countries: China , India , and Pakistan . The word Kashmir is thought to have been derived from Sanskrit and was referred to as káśmīra . A popular local etymology of Kashmira

5060-522: The 1901 Census of the British Indian Empire , the population of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu was 2,905,578. Of these, 2,154,695 (74.16%) were Muslims, 689,073 (23.72%) Hindus, 25,828 (0.89%) Sikhs, and 35,047 (1.21%) Buddhists (implying 935 (0.032%) others). The Hindus were found mainly in Jammu, where they constituted a little less than 60% of the population. In the Kashmir Valley,

5175-813: The Afghan Durrani Empire . In 1819, the Kashmir Valley passed from the control of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan to the conquering armies of the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh of the Punjab , thus ending four centuries of Muslim rule under the Mughals and the Afghan regime. As the Kashmiris had suffered under the Afghans, they initially welcomed the new Sikh rulers. However,

5290-499: The British after the first defeat of the Sikhs in 1846, as a reward to a former official who had sided with the British. The Himalayan kingdom was connected to India through a district of the Punjab, but its population was 77 per cent Muslim and it shared a boundary with Pakistan. Hence, it was anticipated that the maharaja would accede to Pakistan when the British paramountcy ended on 14–15 August. When he hesitated to do this, Pakistan launched

5405-451: The British, and the subsequent assumption of direct rule by Great Britain, the princely state of Kashmir came under the suzerainty of the British Crown . In the British census of India of 1941, Kashmir registered a Muslim majority population of 77%, a Hindu population of 20% and a sparse population of Buddhists and Sikhs comprising the remaining 3%. That same year, Prem Nath Bazaz , a Kashmiri Pandit journalist wrote: "The poverty of

5520-570: The British, as equivalent for one crore indemnity, the hill countries between the rivers Beas and Indus; by the second the British made over to Gulab Singh for 75 lakhs all the hilly or mountainous country situated to the east of the Indus and the west of the Ravi i.e. the Vale of Kashmir. Drafted by a treaty and a bill of sale, and constituted between 1820 and 1858, the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu (as it

5635-669: The Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract . In 1820, the Sikh Empire , under Ranjit Singh , annexed Kashmir. In 1846, after the Sikh defeat in the First Anglo-Sikh War , and upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar , the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh , became the new ruler of Kashmir. The rule of his descendants, under

5750-466: The District Magistrate as to necessarily rely on the reports filed by the police. Thus reducing their role to mere rubber stamps. Preventive detention Preventive detention sometimes involves the detention of a convicted criminal who has served their sentence but is considered too dangerous to release. Remand or pre-trial detention and involuntary commitment are sometimes considered

5865-526: The District Magistrates and Divisional Commissioners, thus making it a purely executive exercise of power. The Supreme Court of India has stated: "Prevention detention is, by nature, repugnant to democratic ideas and an anathema to the rule of law… Preventive detention is often described as a "jurisdiction of suspicion". The detaining authority passes the order of detention on subjective satisfaction... To prevent misuse of this potentially dangerous power

SECTION 50

#1732848320676

5980-440: The Hindu population of the princely state), the most important castes recorded in the census were " Brahmans (186,000), the Rajputs (167,000), the Khattris (48,000) and the Thakkars (93,000)." In the 1911 Census of the British Indian Empire, the total population of Kashmir and Jammu had increased to 3,158,126. Of these, 2,398,320 (75.94%) were Muslims, 696,830 (22.06%) Hindus, 31,658 (1%) Sikhs, and 36,512 (1.16%) Buddhists. In

6095-439: The Hindus represented "524 in every 10,000 of the population ( i.e. 5.24%), and in the frontier wazarats of Ladhakh and Gilgit only 94 out of every 10,000 persons (0.94%)." In the same Census of 1901, in the Kashmir Valley, the total population was recorded to be 1,157,394, of which the Muslim population was 1,083,766, or 93.6% and the Hindu population 60,641. Among the Hindus of Jammu province, who numbered 626,177 (or 90.87% of

6210-400: The ICCPR. Under Article 9(4) of the ICCPR, every person deprived of their liberty, whether arrested or detained has a right to a judicial review, however, PSA makes no such provisions and instead an advisory board, a non-judicial body appointed by the government on the recommendations of a three-person committee comprising senior state bureaucrats reviews all the orders. Detained persons have

6325-609: The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Ordinance in 1977. This was then amended into the 1978 Public Safety Act enacted by Sheikh Abdullah. The 1978 PSA was amended in 1987, 1990, 2012, and as recently as August 2018 to allow individuals to be detained outside the state. The Public Safety Act 1978 consists of five chapters and 24 sections. The five chapters cover: CHAPTER I Preliminary CHAPTER II Access to certain premises and areas CHAPTER III Maintenance of communal and regional harmony CHAPTER IV Power to make orders detaining certain persons CHAPTER V Miscellaneous Chapter II of

6440-502: The Jammu province and Muzaffarabad falls within the reach of Indian monsoon. The Pir Panjal Range acts as an effective barrier and blocks these monsoon tracts from reaching the main Kashmir Valley and the Himalayan slopes. These areas of the region receive much of their precipitation from the wind currents of the Arabian Sea. The Himalayan slope and the Pir Panjal witness greatest snow melting from March until June. These variations in snow melt and rainfall have led to destructive inundations of

6555-469: The Jhelum valley forms the proper Vale of Kashmir surrounded by high mountain ranges. The Chenab valley forms the southern portion of the Kashmir region with its denuded hills towards the south. It includes almost all of the Jammu region . High altitude lakes are frequent at high elevations. Lower down in the Vale of Kashmir there are many freshwater lakes and large areas of swamplands which include Wular Lake , Dal Lake and Hokersar near Srinagar . To

6670-429: The Kashmir Valley to the Punjab of British India. For almost a century, until the census, a small Hindu elite had ruled over a vast and impoverished Muslim peasantry. Driven into docility by chronic indebtedness to landlords and moneylenders, having no education besides, nor awareness of rights, the Muslim peasants had no political representation until the 1930s. Ranbir Singh's grandson Hari Singh , who had ascended

6785-504: The Kashmir region differ considerably from one part to another. The lowest part of the region consists of the plains of Jammu at the southwestern corner, which continue into the plains of Punjab at an elevation of below 1000 feet. Mountains begin at 2000 feet, then raising to 3000–4000 feet in the "Outer Hills", a rugged country with ridges and long narrow valleys. Next within the tract lie the Middle Mountains which are 8000–10,000 feet in height with ramifying valleys. Adjacent to these hills are

6900-409: The Muslim masses is appalling. ... Most are landless laborers, working as serfs for absentee [Hindu] landlords ... Almost the whole brunt of official corruption is borne by the Muslim masses." Under Hindu rule, Muslims faced hefty taxation and discrimination in the legal system, and were forced into labor without any wages. Conditions in the princely state caused a significant migration of people from

7015-409: 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 was detained under the act, refused to revoke the act during his tenure as Chief Minister, saying that there are enough inbuilt safeguards to prevent

SECTION 60

#1732848320676

7130-409: The Phulai ( Acacia modesta ) and Olive (Olea cuspid ata) Zone. There occur semi-deciduous species of Shorea robusta , Acacia catechu , Dalbergia sissoo , Albizia lebbeck , Garuga pinnata , Terminalia bellirica and T. tomentosa and Pinus roxburghii are found at higher elevations. The temperate zone between (1,500–3,500 m) is referred as the Chir Pine (Finns longifolia). This zone

7245-416: 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. 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

7360-502: The Sikh governors turned out to be hard taskmasters, and Sikh rule was generally considered oppressive, protected perhaps by the remoteness of Kashmir from the capital of the Sikh Empire in Lahore. The Sikhs enacted a number of anti-Muslim laws, which included handing out death sentences for cow slaughter, closing down the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, and banning the a dhan , the public Muslim call to prayer. Kashmir had also now begun to attract European visitors, several of whom wrote of

7475-400: The abject poverty of the vast Muslim peasantry and of the exorbitant taxes under the Sikhs. High taxes, according to some contemporary accounts, had depopulated large tracts of the countryside, allowing only one-sixteenth of the cultivable land to be cultivated. Many Kashmiri peasants migrated to the plains of the Punjab. However, after a famine in 1832, the Sikhs reduced the land tax to half

7590-549: The accession of the State with the Union of India... You and your party men propagate and advocate among the people of the State that they have yet to decide their future which can only be done through plebiscite... 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

7705-402: The act allows the state to limit access to certain places, designating them as "prohibited places" and "protected areas". Violators can be fined and punished. Chapter III allows the government to forbid the circulation of harmful documents. Chapter IV of the act details "detention of certain persons" including those who qualify as a foreigner or "a person residing in the area of the State under

7820-430: The act are too broad and vague that they end up granting the authorities sweeping powers, at the same time seriously diminishing any real possibility for persons detained to contest the legality of the detention order. Section 13 of the act, allows the authority to not communicate grounds of detention for up to 5 days, which can be extended to 10 days of detention. Article 9(2) of the ICCPR provides that anyone arrested has

7935-420: The act since its inception. In 2016, around 600 people were detained under PSA orders. The courts have annulled hundreds of detention orders over the years. Masarat Alam 's was one of the detention orders quashed in December 2016. Data from an RTI revealed that between April 2016 and December 2017, 99.40% or 998 cases were found to be suitable for detention by the advisory board; however, in the same time period,

8050-446: 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". The dossier reads: The subject advocates the idea of soft separatism through his articles, tweets and social media posts, which on several occasions have attracted response, amounting to a potential threat to public order. In February 2020,

8165-842: The age of 21 and above and will be assessed on an annual basis. Under Apartheid , the government of South Africa used preventive detention laws to target its political opponents. These included, notably, the Terrorism Act of 1967 , which gave police commanders the power to detain terrorists—or people with information about terrorists—without warrant. Section 1021 and 1022 of the legislation enacted policies described by The Guardian as allowing indefinite detention "without trial [of] American terrorism suspects arrested on U.S. soil who could then be shipped to Guantánamo Bay". Pakistan occupied Kashmir 34°30′N 76°30′E  /  34.5°N 76.5°E  / 34.5; 76.5 Kashmir ( / ˈ k æ ʃ m ɪər / KASH -meer or / k æ ʃ ˈ m ɪər / kash- MEER )

8280-412: The area of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which comprises Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh , while Pakistan controls a third of the region, divided into two provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan . Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are administered by India as union territories . They formed a single state until 5 August 2019, when the state was bifurcated and its limited autonomy

8395-519: The climatic conditions and the altitude. Kashmir forests range from the tropical deciduous forests in the foothills of Jammu and Muzafarabad , to the temperate forests throughout the Vale of Kashmir and to the alpine grasslands and high altitude meadows in Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh. The Kashmir region has four well defined zones of vegetation in the tree growth, due to the difference in elevation. The tropical forests up to 1500 m, are known as

8510-535: The community it is necessary so to do. The act also gives power to the governments to detain a foreigner in a view to regulate his presence or expel from the country. The act was passed in 1980 during the Indira Gandhi Government . The maximum period of detention is 12 months. The order can also be made by the District Magistrate or a Commissioner of Police under their respective jurisdictions, but

8625-432: The courts. Until 2009, the limit was six hours. This change was part of the so-called Lømmelpakke ( da ). In Germany , preventive detention (German: Sicherungsverwahrung ) is an indeterminate sentence that follows regular imprisonment, imposed as part of a criminal sentence. Sicherungsverwahrung is imposed in the original judicial sentence. It could formerly be subsequently imposed under certain circumstances, but

8740-462: The detention order, representation and any information necessary and submit its report to the State Government within 8 weeks of the detention. However, the person detained is not entitled to any legal counsel, since PSA explicitly bars detainees from being represented by legal counsel before the advisory board. Further, Section 22 of the act, provides immunity to the officials involved, providing

8855-400: The detention should be reported to the State Government along with the grounds on which the order has been made. The National Security Act along with other laws allowing preventive detention have come under wide criticism for their alleged misuse. The act's constitutional validity even during peacetime has been described by some sections as an anachronism . In Japan , pre-trial detention of

8970-525: The early 1800s, and continued with such laws as the Defence of India Act, 1939 and the Preventive Detention Act 1950. The controversial Maintenance of Internal Security Act was originally enacted by the Indian parliament early during Indira Gandhi 's prime ministership in 1971. However it was amended several times during "The Emergency" (1975–1977), leading to human rights violations. It

9085-450: The exodus, ranging from the entire population of over 150 thousand, to 190 thousand of a total Pandit population of 200 thousand (200,000), to a number as high as 300 thousand (300,000). People in Jammu speak Hindi, Punjabi and Dogri, the Kashmir Valley people speak Kashmiri, and people in the sparsely inhabited Ladakh speak Tibetan and Balti. The population of India-administered union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh combined

9200-555: The first half of the first millennium, the Kashmir region became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism . During the 7th-14th centuries, the region was ruled by a series of Hindu dynasties, and Kashmir Shaivism arose. In 1320, Rinchan Shah became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Kashmir Sultanate . The region was part of the Mughal Empire from 1586 to 1751, and thereafter, until 1820, of

9315-679: 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

9430-514: The four decades of its existence. Every year the detaining authorities have been issuing detention orders without any SOPs to guide them except the reports and dossiers prepared by the J&;K Police. In an interview with Amnesty International, a former District Magistrate said that the Magistrates do not have dedicated assistance available, which could verify and seriously examine the police version, thus

9545-459: The grounds is or are–– (a) vague, (ii) non-existent, (iii) not relevant, (iv) not connected or not proximately connected with such person, or (v) invalid for any other reasons whatsoever... In the act the meaning of timber is elaborated: "'Timber' means timber of Fir , Kail, Chir or Deodar tree whether in logs or cut up in pieces but does not include firewood". Timber smuggling is a major threat in Jammu and Kashmir . By some estimates, this trade

9660-644: The group announced protests of the International Motor Show Germany . In India , preventive detention is for a maximum period of three months, a limit which can be changed by the Parliament. According to Preventive Detention Act 1950, it can be extended beyond three months up to a total of twelve months, only on the favourable recommendation of an advisory board, made up of High Court judges or persons eligible to be appointed High Court judges. Preventive detention in India dates from British rule in

9775-543: The intensity of the cold which keeps the perpetual snow on the mountains. Jammu Division, excluding the upper parts of the Chenab Valley, features a humid subtropical climate. The Vale of Kashmir has a moderate climate. The Astore Valley and some parts of Gilgit-Baltistan features a semi-Tibetan climate. While as the other parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh have Tibetan climate which is considered as almost rainless climate. The southwestern Kashmir which includes much of

9890-537: The last census of British India in 1941, the total population of Kashmir and Jammu (which as a result of the Second World War, was estimated from the 1931 census) was 3,945,000. Of these, the total Muslim population was 2,997,000 (75.97%), the Hindu population was 808,000 (20.48%), and the Sikh 55,000 (1.39%). The Kashmiri Pandits , the only Hindus of the Kashmir valley, who had stably constituted approximately 4 to 5% of

10005-403: The law of preventive detention has to be strictly construed and meticulous compliance with the procedural safeguards, however technical, is, in our opinion, mandatory and vital." An RTI application to the J&K Home Department filed by members of the J&K RTI Movement revealed that the State Government of J&K has not made any Rules or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) under PSA, during

10120-452: The lofty Great Himalayan ranges (14000–15000 feet) which divide the drainage of the Chenab and Jehlum from that of the Indus. Beyond this range lies a wide tract of mountainous country of 17000–22000 feet in Ladakh and Baltistan . Kashmir has a different climate for every region owing to the great variation in altitude. The temperatures ranges from the tropical heat of the Punjab summer to

10235-600: The lower territory just southwest of the Saltoro Ridge. India controls 101,338 km (39,127 sq mi) of the disputed territory, Pakistan controls 85,846 km (33,145 sq mi), and the People's Republic of China controls the remaining 37,555 km (14,500 sq mi). Jammu and Azad Kashmir lie south and west of the Pir Panjal range , and are under Indian and Pakistani control respectively. These are populous regions. Gilgit-Baltistan, formerly known as

10350-540: The main valley. One instance of such Kashmir flood of a larger proportion is recorded in the 12th-century book Rajatarangini . A single cloudburst in July 1935 caused the upper Jehlum river level to rise 11 feet. The 2014 Kashmir floods inundated the Kashmir city of Srinagar and submerged hundreds of other villages. Kashmir has a recorded forest area of 20,230 square kilometres (7,810 sq mi) along with some national parks and reserves . The forests vary according to

10465-843: The name Kashmir is in Ashtadhyayi written by the Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini during the 5th century BC. Pāṇini called the people of Kashmir Kashmirikas . Some other early references to Kashmir can also be found in Mahabharata in Sabha Parva and in puranas like Matsya Purana , Vayu Purana , Padma Purana and Vishnu Purana and Vishnudharmottara Purana . Huientsang , the Buddhist scholar and Chinese traveller, called Kashmir kia-shi-milo , while some other Chinese accounts referred to Kashmir as ki-pin (or Chipin or Jipin) and ache-pin . Cashmeer

10580-583: The north and northeast, beyond the Great Himalayas, the region is traversed by the Karakoram mountains. To the northwest lies the Hindu Kush mountain range. The upper Indus River separates the Himalayas from the Karakoram. The Karakoram is the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier at 76 km (47 mi) and the Biafo Glacier at 63 km (39 mi) rank as

10695-431: The number quoted by media reports in 2019. The government also said, 201 persons were booked in 2017, when the official data says that more than double, 410 were booked under PSA. This can be further seen in the 2011 report by Amnesty International,       (Statistics from National Crime Records Bureau and Greater Kashmir Newspaper.)    While Amnesty does not consider either of

10810-423: The occupation of Pakistan " to prevent them "from acting in any manner prejudicial to... the security of the state or the maintenance of public order" or those involved in smuggling or abetting the smuggling of timber or liquor. Notably there is a provision, Grounds of detention severable , (10.A.a) that goes on to state that the: order shall not be deemed to be invalid or inoperative merely because one or some of

10925-493: The opinion of Kashmiris must be ascertained, while India insisted that no referendum could occur until all of the state had been cleared of irregulars. In the last days of 1948, a ceasefire was agreed under UN auspices. However, since the plebiscite demanded by the UN was never conducted, relations between India and Pakistan soured, and eventually led to two more wars over Kashmir in 1965 and 1999 . India has control of about half

11040-462: The population of the valley during Dogra rule (1846–1947), and 20% of whom had left the Kashmir valley to other parts of India in the 1950s, underwent a complete exodus in the 1990s due to the Kashmir insurgency . According to a number of authors, approximately 100,000 of the total Kashmiri Pandit population of 140,000 left the valley during that decade. Other authors have suggested a higher figure for

11155-696: The practice of subsequent incapacitation was ruled a violation of Art 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights . The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany also issued a verdict on Sicherungsverwahrung in May 2011, deeming it unconstitutional. In response, a new law regulating Sicherungsverwahrung was passed in November 2012. In 2023 27 supporters of Last Generation (climate movement) were preemptively imprisoned after

11270-573: The produce of the land and also began to offer interest-free loans to farmers; Kashmir became the second highest revenue earner for the Sikh Empire. During this time Kashmir shawls became known worldwide, attracting many buyers, especially in the West. The state of Jammu , which had been on the ascendant after the decline of the Mughal Empire, came under the sway of the Sikhs in 1770. Further in 1808, it

11385-455: The provisions of this Act", thus enabling impunity by protecting officials even in situations where PSA is abused. The data regarding the number of humans detained under PSA throughout the years has been quite inconsistent, with figures widely conflicting with each other. For example, in January 2018, the J&K government said only 525 persons were detained under PSA in 2016, which was almost half

11500-415: The public interest to disclose". At the same time, the authority is required to inform the State Government about the order and get it approved in 12 days, for the order to remain in force. All detention orders, along with the grounds of the orders and representations (if any) must be placed before a non-judicial advisory board within 4 weeks of the detention. The advisory board is then required to review

11615-472: The right to communicate with and be represented by a counsel of their choice, however, Section 16 of the Public Safety Act, states that any person against whom a detention order has been made is not entitled to legal counsel with respect to the advisory board and its proceedings. Section 16 not only disregards the "right to communicate with and be represented by counsel of choosing in the determination of criminal charges" guaranteed by Articles 14(3)(b) and (d) of

11730-522: The sources entirely reliable, it stresses on the fact that government stats are often inconsistent, for example, it says for 1997, the NCRB notes 725 detainees, but in a reply to a petition before NHRC , the Central Government counsel submitted on record that as of December 1997, 1016 persons were held under preventive detention in J&K. An order of administrative detention under the PSA can be passed by

11845-421: 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,

11960-431: The territory under Pakistan control as "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir" ("POK"). The Government of Pakistan and Pakistani sources refer to the portion of Kashmir administered by India as "Indian-occupied Kashmir" ("IOK") or "Indian-held Kashmir" (IHK); The terms "Pakistan-administered Kashmir" and "India-administered Kashmir" are often used by neutral sources for the parts of the Kashmir region controlled by each country. In

12075-480: The throne of Kashmir in 1925, was the reigning monarch in 1947 at the conclusion of British rule of the subcontinent and the subsequent partition of the British Indian Empire into the newly independent Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan . According to Burton Stein 's History of India , Kashmir was neither as large nor as old an independent state as Hyderabad ; it had been created rather off-handedly by

12190-404: The world's second and third longest glaciers outside the polar regions. Karakoram has four eight-thousander mountain peaks with K2 , the second highest peak in the world at 8,611 m (28,251 ft). The Indus River system forms the drainage basin of the Kashmir region. The river enters the region in Ladakh at its southeastern corner from the Tibetan Plateau , and flows northwest to run

12305-421: Was first called) combined disparate regions, religions, and ethnicities: to the east, Ladakh was ethnically and culturally Tibetan and its inhabitants practised Buddhism ; to the south, Jammu had a mixed population of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In the heavily populated central Kashmir valley, the population was overwhelmingly Muslim —mostly Sunni , however, there was also a small but influential Hindu minority,

12420-522: Was fully conquered by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Gulab Singh, then a youngster in the House of Jammu, enrolled in the Sikh troops and, by distinguishing himself in campaigns, gradually rose in power and influence. In 1822, he was anointed as the Raja of Jammu. Along with his able general Zorawar Singh Kahluria , he conquered and subdued Rajouri (1821), Kishtwar (1821), Suru valley and Kargil (1835), Ladakh (1834–1840), and Baltistan (1840), thereby surrounding

12535-499: Was given the royal assent on 18 June 2012 and gazetted on 22 June 2012. New Zealand has two types of preventive detention. The one called "preventive detention" is an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment. The other is called a "public protection order" and is a civil detention. "Preventive detention" is an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment, similar to life imprisonment and second only to it in terms of seriousness. It may be given to offenders aged 18 or over who are convicted of

12650-644: Was in prison on preventive detention for 52 years from 1968 to 2021. A public protection order is a civil detention order for someone who has finished a finite prison sentence and still poses a very high risk of serious sexual or violent reoffending. The person is detained in a secure civil residence inside the perimeter of a prison. In Singapore , preventive detention is a special type of imprisonment reserved for recalcitrant offenders at least 30 years old with at least three previous convictions since turning 16. This detention order, which may last between seven and 20 years, does not allow remissions for good behaviour. It

12765-568: Was invoked against terrorism activity and against anyone deemed a threat to national security. On 15 September 2011, Najib Razak , the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, said that this legislation would be repealed and replaced by two new laws. On 17 April 2012, the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA) was approved by the Malaysian Parliament as a replacement for the ISA. It

12880-571: Was revoked. According to Encyclopædia Britannica : Although there was a clear Muslim majority in Kashmir before the 1947 partition and its economic, cultural, and geographic contiguity with the Muslim-majority area of the Punjab (in Pakistan) could be convincingly demonstrated, the political developments during and after the partition resulted in a division of the region. Pakistan was left with territory that, although basically Muslim in character,

12995-597: Was sentenced in 2012 to 12 years preventive detention for culpable homicide and cheating, before the detention order was increased to 20 years upon the prosecution's appeal. Drug trafficker Abdul Kahar Othman served ten years of preventive detention from 1995 to 2005 due to a lengthy criminal record of drug offences. In February 2024, Singapore passed a dangerous offenders law where dangerous offenders can be held indefinitely even after they have completed their sentences for certain offences such as rape, culpable homicide and abuse of minors. The law will apply to those from

13110-447: Was sparsely populated, relatively inaccessible, and economically underdeveloped. The largest Muslim group, situated in the Valley of Kashmir and estimated to number more than half the population of the entire region, lay in India-administered territory, with its former outlets via the Jhelum valley route blocked. The eastern region of the former princely state of Kashmir is also involved in

13225-504: Was subsequently repealed after Indira Gandhi lost the election in 1977, and the new government took over. India's National Security Act of 1980 empowers the Central Government and State Governments to detain a person to prevent him/her from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of India, the relations of India with foreign countries, the maintenance of public order, or the maintenance of supplies and services essential to

#675324