Six detained under PSA in Kashmir for ‘inciting’ students protest | India News
The students were protesting against the school teacher who was accused of molestation and was later taken into custody.Police said that Umar Akbar Hazam, Salman Ahmed Shala, Altaf Ahmed Sheikh, Mubashir Ahmed Gilkar, Muzammil Mushtaq Changa and Majid Firdous Dar were detained after the permission of the District Magistrate required under the PSA. They have been sent to jail in Doda, Jammu.All are residents of Sopore, police said, and none are students. “These miscreants were involved in attempts to disturb the peace during the recent protests by students. Their activities posed a serious threat to public order and security,” a police statement said, adding that more persons involved in the April 13 disturbance were being identified for prosecution under the PSA.In a warning to the public, the police asked them to “refrain from illegal activities and not fall victim to the incitement of anti-social elements”.Police did not mention the specific PSA section under which the six were booked. The law allows detention without trial for six months, renewable by six months, if an accused poses a threat to state security. Under a PSA clause relating to threats to public order, preventive detention is allowed for up to three months, with an extension of three months.Earlier, the PSA allowed detention without trial for up to two years. But an amendment in 2011 by the previous regime of J&K CM Omar Abdullah increased the detention period from two years to six months for threats to state security and from one year to three months for threats to public order.
