The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday quashed the detention order against independent journalist Majid Hyderi, who has been lodged in jail for over 17 months under the Public Safety Act, The Hindu reported. 

Hyderi was arrested in September 2023 in Srinagar and subsequently booked under the preventive detention law for allegedly spreading false information that purportedly promoted secessionism. Under the Public Safety Act, an accused can be held under detention for two years without trial. 

However, the high court dismissed the grounds for Hyderi’s detention under the PSA, terming them “vague” and “ambiguous”. Hearing Hyderi’s pleas, Justice VK Chatterjee said, “Detention in preventive custody on the basis of such vague and ambiguous grounds of detention cannot be justified.”

Hyderi is currently lodged in the Kot Bhalwal Jail in the Jammu region.

While quashing his detention, the court also observed that Hyderi’s 2018 social media comments and news items, that were referenced by the detaining authority, failed to establish the “live and proximate link” to justify his custody. 

Before being booked under the PSA, Hyderi had also been booked for “criminal conspiracy, extortion, spreading false information, and defamation” based on a complaint by a local journalist.

In February 2022, Hyderi was also summoned by the J&K police for allegedly sharing a claim by a Pulwama-based family that their son, who was killed in an encounter, was innocent and not a “hybrid militant”. At the time, Hyderi had said that he had only shared the family’s claim and not given any opinion.

During the J&K assembly polls last year, Newslaundry had reported from Kashmir on the media crisis in the union territory. Journalists told us there’s freedom of expression, but there’s no freedom after expression. Watch our report here.

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