Mehbooba moves PIL plea to shift J&K undertrials home

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the J&K High Court to bring to justice the people of the state who are being held as undertrial prisoners in jails outside Jammu and Kashmir.

“As a political activist and a Former Chief Minister, many family members of detainees have been requesting to take up the matter before the Government. We have appealed to the government to repatriate remand prisoners lodged in prisons outside J&K to prisons in J&K, but no action was taken by the government and as a result the petitioner preferred the present petition in the public interest,” the PIL said.

“I humbly request the immediate intervention of this Hon’ble Court by order of Mandamus, immediate repatriation and immediate transfer of all undertrial prisoners of J&K who are currently in prisons outside the Union Territory to prisons within J&K,” he said.

He also said the court should be informed by prison authorities of “written reasons showing the inevitable, compelling necessity” to keep them out of prisons. “In such exceptional cases, a judicial review is required every three months.”

An unknown number of J&K’s pretrial detainees have been shifted to different prisons in the mainland since 2019. Ms. Mufti requested before the court that family and lawyer access protocol be ensured through “minimum weekly in-person family meetings, unlimited privileged lawyer-client meetings subject to reasonable regulations, and the framing and implementation of an access protocol that ensures non-denial on cost/escort excuses.”

Legal Services Authorities were called on to “monitor compliance and report quarterly”, the court was told. The PIL also called for physical conduct of repatriation proceedings, fixing timelines for recording evidence and avoiding delays attributable to detention logistics.

Call to the complaints redressal committee

The PIL also sought before the court to constitute a two-member oversight and grievance redressal committee comprising a retired district judge to “monitor places under jurisdiction, family contact records, lawyer-conference records and production orders”. It must also recommend disciplinary action in case of non-compliance and submit bimonthly status reports to the court.

It also “covers reasonable travel and lodging expenses once a month for a family member’s trial in an out-of-state prison, verified by prison records and tickets,” until the repatriation process begins.

“This petition challenges the continued practice of J&K cases in prisons outside the Union Territory. This practice puts detainees in a worse position than convicts, violates the presumption of innocence and frustrates the fundamental Article 21 which guarantees family contact, effective access to counsel and a meaningful, speedy trial,” the PIL said.

In the PIL, Ms. Mufti argued that presumption of innocence should be the fundamental principle. “Distanced sentencing and separation of trials from courts and families make detention indistinguishable from punishment,” he added.