Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, the High Court has stayed execution of an order by Deputy Commissioner Shopian to book Sarjan Ahmad Wagay alias Sarjan Barkati under draconian law, Public Safety Act.
Sarjan Barkati is a charismatic crowd puller from south Kashmir whose slogans were even raised by members of the opposition in the so-called Kashmir assembly, yesterday.
The order by Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar followed the court’s directions to release Sarjan Barkati from custody in which he had been held on the orders of Deputy Commissioner Kulgam.
The court’s order had followed perusal of a communication sent by the Special Secretary to Home Department of the territory to District Magistrate Kulgam on October 26 in which DC Kulgam was informed that the detention order passed by him and under which Barakati was shifted to Kot Bhalwal jail had become “non-existent in the eyes of lawâ€, the court had said on December 27 while disposing of a petition filed by Barkati’s wife through advocate Mir Shafaqat Hussain, challenging the detention order against her husband.
Subsequently, in an order on December 30, the high court ordered the authorities not to execute a detention order passed by District Commissioner Shopian against Sarjan Barkati. “Hence the detention order deserves to be quashed and Sarjan Barkati deserves to be compensated for illegal detention,†Shafqat said in the High Court.
In her plea, Barkati’s wife had sought the high court’s directions to quash DC Shopian’s order and directions to release her husband from illegal detention.
Sarjan Barkati, as he is better known, has a distinctive and impassioned style of sloganeering which has made him one of the most sought-after speakers in south Kashmir. A resident of Reban Gainapora in Shopian district, Barkati’s anthems have become a rage in south Kashmir since the killing of popular youth leader, Burhan Wani, in July 2016.
