IAS topper and J&K People’s Movement chief Shah Faesal was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) on Saturday, becoming the eighth prominent mainstream politician to face the stringent law.
Mr. Faesal was detained at the Delhi international airport in August second week last year following his interviews to several media channels, expressing strong views against the Centre’s move to revoke J&K’s special status.
“Kashmir will need a long, sustained, non-violent political mass movement for restoration of the political rights. Abolition of Article 370 has finished the mainstream. Constitutionalists are gone. So you can either be a stooge or a separatist now. No shades of grey”, was the last tweet he made on August 13.
Also read | Explained: The Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act
Mr. Faesal was shifted to a detention centre in Srinagar on August 14 last. Since then, he has been in preventive custody under Section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). At present, he is detained inside the MLA hostel in Srinagar.
Sources said Mr. Faesal’s wife withdrew a habeas corpus petition before the Supreme Court to avoid the administration’s step to book him under the PSA, which can detain a person without trial for up to three months and the detention can be extended up to two years.
His family was assured that he would not face the stringent law if he withdrew his petition, a close friend said.
Mr. Faesal topped the IAS examination in 2009 and emerged as a poster boy for locals to prepare for such competitive examinations. He launched his party last year after quitting the government job.
Other mainstream leaders booked under the PSA are Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Sartaj Madani, Hilal Lone and Naeem Akhtar.
