Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti freed after 14 months in detention
After 14 months in detention, Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was freed tonight as the federally-ruled territory administration revoked the stringent Public Safety Act charges against her.
The development came barely two days before the Supreme Court was to hear the matter of her detention.
The deputy commissioner of Srinagar ordered that the PSA has been revoked with immediate effect.
Jammu and Kashmir administration spokesman Rohit Kansal had also tweeted: "Ms Mehbooba Mufti being released."
Mehbooba, 60, chief of People's Democratic Party, was initially put under preventive detention on August 5 last year when the Indian government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status and split it into two federally-administered areas.
She was later booked under the PSA on February 6 and was shifted to her official residence on April 7 after it was declared a subsidiary jail by the authorities.
Mehbooba's daughter Iltija expressed happiness that her mother was finally released from detention, which she alleged was "illegal, unlawful and a complete travesty 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 said.
Iltija had last month moved the Supreme Court against the continued detention of her mother under the PSA.
Another former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdulah and his father Farooq Abdullah had also been detained under the PSA but were released in March this year.
The Supreme Court, while hearing Iltija's petition on September 29, gave two weeks to the Jammu and Kashmir administration to communicate its stance on how long Mehbooba can be kept in custody and whether her custody can be extended beyond one year.
The court was scheduled to hear the matter again later this week.
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