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PDP president and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti was released on Tuesday night as the Union Territory administration revoked the Public Safety Act charges against her, more than a year after she was detained following the abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state.
The development came barely two days before the Supreme Court was to hear the matter related to her detention.
The Deputy Commissioner ordered that the PSA has been revoked with immediate effect. Her detention period had been extended for a period of three months on July 31 this year.
Mehbooba, 60, who was initially put under preventive custody on August 5 last year and later booked under the stringent PSA on February 6, was shifted to her official residence on April 7 after it was declared a subsidiary jail by the authorities.
Her elated daughter Iltija expressed happiness that her mother was finally released from detention, which she alleged was “illegal, unlawful and a complete traversity of justice”.
“I now hope that other youths who have been detained for over a year in various jails in and outside the state are also released soon,” Iltija told PTI.
Reacting to Mehbooba’s release, Former J&K chief Minister and and national Conference Vice- president Omar Abdullah tweeted
I’m pleased to hear that @MehboobaMufti Sahiba has been released after more than a year in detention. Her continued detention was a travesty & was against the basic tenets of democracy. Welcome out Mehbooba.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 13, 2020
Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram too tweeted his reaction. He had termed her detention unjustified
Happy that Ms Mehbooba Mufti has been finally released after 14 months of unjustified detention
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) October 13, 2020
