Srinagar, July 29: A 40-year-old activist of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Bashir Ahmad Malik from Uranhall village of Bijbehara Tehsil whose father is suffering from cancer, has been booked under draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) and shifted to Kathua jail in Jammu.
The detained Bashir Ahmad Malik is working a small time contractor, was arrested by the police three months back on charges of holding peaceful protest demonstrations.
Earlier, he was kept under detention in police post, Sangam, and later in police station, Bijbehara. Two FIRs were registered against him in, which he has already been bailed out by court.
However, despite that he was not released and instead booked under PSA and shifted to Kathua jail. He is father of two minor kids and his father Ghulam Nabi Malik is suffering from cancer and is bed ridden.
“Bashir is the sole breadwinner of our family and it is he who used to bear expenses on the treatment of his father who has lung cancer,” said his aged mother, Jana Begum.
She said that his son was being framed merely for professing pro-freedom ideology. “His father is battling for life and wants his son by his side this time. But the authorities have not only denied him that but shifted him to a jail which is more than 300 kilometers away,” Jana rued.
The PSA, which has been termed as lawless law by human rights watch dog Amnesty International allows the police to detain a person without a trial for six months.
However, it has been noticed that once released, the act is again used to detain the released person, sometimes even soon after leaving the court premises.