Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has slapped the Public Safety Act against six youngsters accused of involvement in the violence that forced authorities to shut down educational institutions across north Kashmir’s Sopore earlier this month.Reports said that the administration in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district has approved the detention of six youngsters from Sopore town under the stringent legislation and they have been shifted to a jail in Bhaderwah area of Jammu’s Kishtwar district.They have been identified as Umar Akbar Hajam, Salman Ahmed Shala, Altaf Ahmed Sheikh, Mubashir Ahmed Gilkar, Muzammil Mushtaq Changa and Majid Firdous Dar, all residents of Sopore.The accused, whose PSA dossiers were not immediately available, have been charged with “instigating unrest, damaging property and attempting to disrupt peace” in the aftermath of a student protest in Sopore on April 13 after a male teacher was accused of harassment and inappropriate behaviour by a female student.Also read: High Court Says PSA Invoked Against Kashmiri Man With Less Scrutiny Than ‘Routine Traffic Challan’The allegations prompted widespread protests in Sopore with several dozens of agitated students hitting the roads to demand action against the accused, Ghulam Hassan Mir, a senior Urdu lecturer.There were reports of students resorting to vandalism during the protests which brought life to a standstill in the north Kashmir town.As the protests threatened to spill into other areas of Baramulla district, the administration was forced to shut down some educational institutions from April 15 to April 18.Mir was placed under suspension in an order by the directorate of school education and a police case was also filed against him, according to senior superintendent of Sopore police Iftikhar Talib.Reports said that eight persons were taken into custody in connection with the protests and the subsequent violence in Sopore while more than two dozen were questioned.Of these, six have been detained under the Public Safety Act, a controversial legislation which has been termed as a “lawless law” by Amnesty International.The police have not given out the age of the six detainees or their occupation. A senior police officer told The Wire that they were “miscreants” with “past involvement in crime”.“They had nothing to do with the concerns of the students and joined the protests only with the motive of stoking unrest and disturbing public order,” the officer said, wishing anonymity. The Wire could not independently verify the claim.A J&K police statement said: “Sopore Police reiterated that there is zero tolerance for any unlawful activity that threatens peace and stability in the district. They added that more individuals involved in the said incidents are being identified and are under process for similar legal action, including detention under the PSA”.The Public Safety Act empowers J&K Police to detain any individual deemed a threat to “public order” or the “security of the state”.However, before any detention order takes effect, the police dossier must be approved by the deputy commissioner of the concerned district after which it goes before the PSA advisory board for final approval.The north Kashmir district is headed by Syeed Fakhrudin Hamid, a 2017-batch IAS officer who was recently reprimanded by the J&K and Ladakh high court for “failing to apply his mind” and “non-seriousness of standard” while approving the preventive detention of a man from south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.