J&K HC quashes detention over Facebook post on ‘Lord Ram’

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has quashed a Public Safety Act (PSA) detention order against a 41-year-old man accused of posting derogatory remarks about Lord Ram and mocking Hindu women observing fast during Karwa Chauth on Facebook, holding that the authorities had delayed his detention by 38 days without adequate explanation.

Justice Rajesh Sekhri observed that the authorities had recommended his detention just four days after he obtained pre-arrest bail. The court viewed the timing as an attempt to bypass the bail order and described it as a colourable exercise of power, the Indian Express reported.

The court also held that withholding crucial documents relating to the accused’s bail from the detaining authority could prevent it from properly assessing the circumstances of the case. Such non-disclosure, it said, could also deprive the detainee of an effective opportunity to challenge the preventive detention and thereby infringe his constitutional rights.

The court noted that if the authorities genuinely believed the man posed an immediate threat to public order, the District Magistrate would have been expected to act promptly after receiving the detention recommendation. Allowing him to remain free for 38 days, the court observed, was inconsistent with the claim that his activities posed such a serious and continuing threat.

According to the August 29 order, the detaining authority had allowed a considerable period to pass before issuing the detention order despite the recommendation for preventive detention. The court found that the delay was unexplained and inconsistent with the circumstances relied upon by the authorities.

The man was detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act on December 8, 2025, following a recommendation by the SSP, Kathua. The police dossier referred to four FIRs and two daily diary reports against him.

The authorities described him as a history-sheeter who allegedly delivered inflammatory and provocative speeches intended to influence public sentiment and create communal and social disharmony. They further alleged that he had repeatedly engaged in activities aimed at promoting hostility along religious and caste lines and continued to circulate allegedly hateful and inflammatory material on social media despite warnings and previous legal action.

The detention order was primarily linked to alleged derogatory comments about Lord Ram and a Facebook video in which he was accused of ridiculing Hindu women observing fast during Karwa Chauth. The authorities claimed that his speeches demonstrated a continuing pattern of deliberately spreading hate speech and fostering hostility between different religious and caste groups.

The High Court concluded that the unexplained delay between the detention recommendation and the issuance of the order did not fit the factual circumstances presented by the authorities.

It further held that the failure of the sponsoring authority to disclose the relevant bail order to the detaining authority was a serious procedural defect. According to the court, withholding such a material fact prevented the detaining authority from arriving at a properly informed subjective satisfaction and also infringed the constitutional safeguards available to a person facing preventive detention.

The court consequently allowed the petition and set aside the order against the man.