NEW DELHI – India’s top court on Tuesday refused to pass any interim orimmediate order on lifting of restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir, includingrestoring communication services, according to reports in local media.
A Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, was hearing apetition by Congress Party activist Tehseen Poonawalla against the recentactions by the Indian government in Kashmir that violate the fundamentalrights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 21 of the country’s constitution.
Besides seeking withdrawal of curfew, and other regressive measuresincluding blocking of phone lines, Internet and news channels in the heldvalley, Poonawalla has also sought a direction from the top court for therelease of Kashmiri leaders like former chief ministers Omar Abdullah andMehbooba Mufti.
The court said the Centre required time to restore normalcy as nothingcould be done overnight and deferred the hearing for two weeks, the IndiaToday reportedlink.
After the government’s assurance to the court that it was reviewing thesituation on a daily basis and was committed to ensure “least human rightsviolations”, the court decided it would not interfere right now and let thegovernment continue with its efforts to maintain law and order in theheld-Valley.
The country’s top court also heard a petition by Anuradha Bhasin, executiveeditor of Kashmir Times, published from Jammu and Srinagar, which sought tolift reporting restrictions in Kashmir. Bhasin was asked to hand over amemo to the registrar for urgent listing of the plea, the ANI reportedlink.
“The debilitating restrictions imposed through the complete shutdown oninternet and telecommunication services, and severe curbs on the movementof photo journalists and reporters be immediately relaxed in order toensure the freedom of the press and media,” read Bhasin’s petition, whichwas filed on Sunday.
Another petition by Akbar Lone from the Jammu and Kashmir NationalConference challenged the legality of the decision to scrap Article 370.
Separately, Manohar Lal Sharma advocate has filed a plea challenging thePresidential Order on Article 370 which revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s specialstatus.