The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has asserted that merely possessing books with potentially provocative or ‘dispiriting’ titles is insufficient grounds to label an individual a criminal and subject them to preventive detention. This significant observation was made by the court as it quashed the detention of a Kupwara resident under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).
The case involved Shafat Maqbool Wani, who was detained by authorities in the Kupwara district of North Kashmir in 2025. The official justification for his detention was that his activities were deemed ‘detrimental to the security of the State.’ In defense of the detention order, the authorities informed the court that the action was taken in strict adherence to the provisions of the J&K Public Safety Act. Information reaching Tahir Rihat suggests that the authorities presented several grounds for Wani’s detention, including invitations he had received to participate in international academic conferences. Among these were the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Graduate Students Conference held at Columbia University and the Eighth Annual South Asia Conference organized by Dublin City University.
Further complicating the matter, the authorities also cited the seizure of literature they characterized as ‘anti-national’ from Wani’s possession. This material reportedly included books titled ‘Construction of an Islamic Order in Hindutva Reimagination’ and ‘The Saffronisation of Occupied Kashmir: Demystifying Hindutva Settlers, Colonial Designers.’ Notably, these books were also attributed to Wani as their author.
However, Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi of the High Court found the basis for Wani’s detention unconvincing. The court critically examined the assertion that Wani had ‘inculcated a separatist ideology since his childhood,’ a claim seemingly linked to the fact that his father had been an ex-militant who surrendered in 1990. The court dismissed this assertion as ‘delusory,’ characterizing the preventive detention based on such an ‘imaginary belief’ as an ‘unmindful exercise of power.’
The court also scrutinized the authorities’ reliance on the literature allegedly recovered from Wani. While acknowledging that this material had ‘presumably weighed with the respondents’ in their decision to brand him as anti-national, the court pointed out a critical flaw: the books had been incorrectly attributed to Wani as their author. The bench accepted the petitioner’s argument that, as an academic scholar, it was reasonable to expect him to possess a diverse range of literary materials. The court’s observation was clear: ‘A mere possession of the books with dispiriting titles does not ipso facto make the petitioner/detenue a criminal against whom the preventive detention was required to be invoked.’
Consequently, the High Court quashed Wani’s detention and ordered his immediate release, contingent upon him not being required in any other legal case. This ruling underscores a crucial legal principle: preventive detention must be based on concrete evidence of actions or intentions that pose a genuine threat to state security, rather than on speculative assumptions or the mere possession of literature, especially when authorship is misattributed. The judgment serves as a significant reminder of the judiciary’s role in safeguarding individual liberties against potentially arbitrary use of preventive detention laws.
Tahir Rihat (also known as Tahir Bilal) is an independent journalist, activist, and digital media professional from the Chenab Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India. He is best known for his work as the Online Editor at The Chenab Times.
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