‘Not A Free Man, Still Under House Arrest’: Saifuddin Soz Says Jammu And Kashmir Admin Lied To SC

Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz’s case of ‘incarceration’ is strangely unique. The Supreme Court of India on July 29 closed a habeas corpus petition, filed by Soz’s wife, after the Jammu and Kashmir administration told the court that the senior Congress leader was “neither in detention nor under house arrest.” But when media persons went to meet Soz, he was found to be confined within the walls of his home, restricted by the police personnel, deployed outside his house, from moving out.

Soz kept shouting that the Supreme Court was lied to. “I am not a free man,” he told the media persons who had gathered to verify the J&K administration’s claims.   

Speaking to Outlook, Soz rubbished the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s claims, saying his condition is still the same as it was on August 5, 2019:  he continues to be under house arrest.

“Nothing has changed since then. I was under house arrest on August 5, 2019 and I continue to be under house arrest now,” Soz told Outlook.

Also Read | If Supreme Court Accepts 'White Lies', What Resort Do I Have: Saifuddin Soz

In Soz’s habeas corpus petition, his lawyer had said that even after 10 months, Professor Soz was not given the grounds of his detention. The petition had said all his efforts to obtain the detention orders have been of no avail. However, in their counter affidavit, the Home Department had claimed that the petitioner had never been detained nor put under house arrest. The counter-affidavit said that there was no question of the provision of detention order as no such detention order was passed.

“Why don’t you tell the central government and J&K government that they are telling lies? Twice I had to leave this place for Delhi after prior permission from the government on the health grounds. There is a record of that. They are lying to everyone, even to the courts. They are lying to the courts,” Soz said.

“I couldn’t go out of my house on August 5, 2019, as I was verbally told that 'you are under house arrest'. The position is the same today. There is no written order that I could have challenged. The central government is lying in my case and so is the J&K government,” he added.

Referring to the closure of his habeas corpus petition, Soz said there is a perception that the Supreme Court these days “feels comfortable in giving benefit of doubt to the government.” 

If the Supreme Court wishes, he said, it could ask the government to bring me before it. “They are deliberately telling lies. Yes, it is true I went to Delhi. But I went there for a health checkup after the permission of the government. For the rest of the time, I have been all along under house arrest. My rights as a citizen enshrined under the Constitution of India and under the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir have been violated brazenly,” Soz said.

Soz said that the administration in J&K had not passed any order on his detention. “They do it verbally. They are habitual of doing all such things verbally. They are habitual of telling lies,” he said.

A news report had quoted an anonymous police officer saying that Soz was not allowed to come out of home because of Covid-19 situation. “Mr. Soz is a Z-category protectee. We can't provide an escort to him outside his home because a large number of police personnel of the security wing have contracted the virus," the officer was quoted as saying.

Responding to this news report, Soz, taking a jibe, said the administration is more concerned about his health than he is. “My simple point is that I cannot move out because there are restrictions and the police posted at the gate of my house say they have the orders from the above. I am not a free person. I cannot go anywhere out of my own volition,” Soz said.

But Soz is not the only politician who is struggling to prove his detention.

On August 11, Jammu and Kashmir government informed the high court that none of the 16 National Conference leaders had been detained and that they were free to move “with certain precautions” as deemed fit for their security after party president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah filed a number of habeas corpus petitions seeking their release.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration in its response to the High Court said that no order of detention, either under preventive detention law or substantive law, was issued against any of the leaders. The government said the petitioner being “categorised persons” have been advised not to visit any vulnerable areas without informing the authorities concerned and argued that it was to ensure their proper security.

The detained leaders include Ali Mohammed Sagar, provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani, senior leader Aga Syed Mehmood, party’s chief spokesman Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi. The leaders have been restricted by police personnel stationed outside their residences for the past 11 months.