‘Detention Without Charges…,’ Chidambaram Hits Out at Centre For Slapping of PSA on Mufti, Abdullah

"Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy," Chidambaram said.

New Delhi: Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Friday hit out at the Centre after former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, were booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said that “detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy”, asserting that PM Modi has forgotten history and examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

“PM says that protests will lead to anarchy and laws passed by Parliament and legislatures must be obeyed. He has forgotten history and the inspiring examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

“Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy,” Chidambaram said.

The Congress leader then went on to condemn the PSA against both the J&K leaders, saying that he felt “shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Act”.

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Unjust laws must be opposed through peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. That is satyagraha.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 7, 2020

Extending his support for the anti-CAA protest, Chidambaram stated that “unjust laws” must be opposed through peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. “That is satyagraha,” he added.

“When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?,” he asked.

Notably, Mufti and Abdullah have now been slapped with Section 107 of the Public Safety Act (PSA), after their custody under Section 107 of CRPC had lapsed. Same is the case with Shah Faesal, the former IAS officer turned politician, who has also been in detention nearly half a year now.

The PSA, 1978, is a stringent J&K law that allows authorities to detain a person without trial for up to two years.

Prior to that, Farooq Abdullah was charged with the law last September after being held under house arrest since August. The J&K NC supremo was charged with three-months detention for ‘disturbing public order’.