Srinagar: The high court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of a Shopian man under the Public Safety Act (PSA) asserting the grounds of the detention order violate constitutional safeguards.A single bench of Justice Rajnesh Oswal on Saturday, October 3, said the charges against PSA detainee Mashooq Ahmad Shah were “false, incorrect, vague and non-existent, on the basis of which no prudent man can make an effective representation against his detention”. The court held that Shah’s detention by the authorities violated the constitutional safeguards under Article 22(5).Justice Oswal while hearing the petition filed by Shah through his counsel ordered his immediate release and questioned authorities on several police claims in the case.Police dossier claims ‘tendency’Shah, a resident of Shahlatoo in Shopian, was detained on December 23, 2025. His detention order was issued by the Shopian district magistrate based on a police dossier.The dossier cited “intelligence reports” and alleged that Shah had shown a “tendency towards anti-national activities” in his locality and other parts of his district.According to the court the police dossier mentioned that he had “hatred against the state and government” and tried to “radicalise and instigate young people towards anti-national activities”.‘A perpetual concern’Shah was lodged in Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal jail and challenged his detention before the high court. In his petition before the high court, he mentioned that the allegations against him were false, vague and unsupported by concrete evidence. He further informed the court that the allegations had been fabricated to justify his detention order.The police dossier had further described Shah as a “perpetual concern for the security agencies” adding the he could be used “as a conduit by terrorist outfits to build underground networks”, the court said.While hearing petition filed by Shah the high court agreed that the grounds of detention in his case miss sufficient elements. The court noted that the authorities had alleged that Shah was in contact with people and associations known for “extremist leanings”. But they did not name any of them.“In the grounds of detention” of the dossier, the court mentioned in the judgment, stated that “the petitioner maintains close contact with the associations/persons previously noted for their extremist leanings, but here also the detaining authority has not bothered to name these associations/persons.”‘Fabricated by the police in order to justify the illegal order of detention’The authorities further alleged that he had tried to establish contact with young youth. But the authorities failed to specify the youths or when the alleged attempts took place, court said.The court said such details were necessary in the case. “The order of detention has been impugned on the ground that the allegations levelled in the grounds of detention have no nexus with the detenu and the same have been fabricated by the police in order to justify the illegal order of detention and it appears that the same has been passed against the wrong person”, it said.The case also concerned the procedural safeguards under Section 13 of the J&K Public Safety Act. The provision of the Act requires the grounds of detention to be communicated to a detainee within the prescribed period, it noted. It also gives a detainee an early opportunity to make a representation against the detention.The court quashed the December 23, 2025 detention order and directed the authorities to release him from preventive custody immediately, unless he was required in another case.