Srinagar: The rampant and arbitrary arrests of people, especially youth in Kashmir since last August are atrocious and undemocratic and violate civil liberties of the people, CPI (M) leader M Y Tarigami said on Friday.
“Such suppressive measures to contain dissent adds to the already deepened levels of alienation among larger sections of the people”, he said.
“The Public Safety Act is being misused in Kashmir and in some cases common people are being kept in police stations for days together without any FIRs. Arrests under UAPA have become a norm and the law is being misused. It has affected hundreds of youth against whom cases have been registered. The draconian law has created a widespread helplessness among the youth”, CPI (M) leader said in a statement.
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“Majority of the habeas corpus petitions filed with the Jammu and Kashmir High Court since the scrapping of Article 370 in August last year have remained pending”, he said.
“Arrests without any solid legal grounds do not augur well for the state. It has been done before as well in the state, but it has never yielded anything. On the other hand, it just exacerbates the anger and gives rise to further uncertainty. We have always maintained that dissent should always have a place in a democratic society. Curbing the dissent and those holding a contradictory viewpoint is not democratic at all”, he said.
