Faesal Detained After He ‘Instigated' People Against Country: Govt To HC

Shah Faesal, a former IAS officer, was detained at the Delhi airport as he was about to fly abroad

NEW DELHI: Justifying the detention of bureaucrat turned-politician Shah Faesal, the Jammu and Kashmir government has told the Delhi High Court that he instigated people gathered at the Srinagar airport against the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

Faesal had no student visa, though he claimed that he was going to the US for studies, the state government, through DIG, CKR, Srinagar, said in an affidavit.

The affidavit was filed in response to the former IAS officer's habeas corpus petition in which he alleged that he was illegally detained at the Delhi airport on August 14 and taken back to Srinagar, where he has been kept under house arrest.

Faesal's liberty is curtailed in accordance with statutory provisions and under an order passed by an executive magistrate in Budgam when he had refused to furnish a bond to keep the peace, the state government said, asserting that he was not in unauthorised custody.

The affidavit said a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against Faesal based upon a request from the J&K Police and the action to be taken in terms of LOC was to prevent him from leaving India and inform the Intelligence Bureau.

"On his arrival at Srinagar (from Delhi), he began to address a gathering of people at the arrival terminal. He started instigating the persons gathered against the sovereignty and integrity of the country having the potential of a breach of peace. The said actions were witnessed by airport authority and police," it said.