Srinagar, July 21: Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was Tuesday booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), an official here said. The head of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference has been under detention since June, when he spearheaded the agitation against the rape and murder of two women in south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
‘Syed Ali Geelani has been booked under the PSA. The time period for which he shall remain under detention shall be determined by the state home department,’ said Srinagar district magistrate Meraj-ud-Din Kakroo.
Geelani led protests in the valley after bodies of two raped and murdered women were found by the side of a stream May 30.
After his detention in the second week of June, Geelani was lodged in a tourist department hut in the high security Cheshma Shahi area here but had to be shifted to the Soura Medical Institute last week after he suffered a bout of diarrhoea. He has since been undergoing treatment there.
Sources said that after the doctors declare Geelani fit he will be shifted back to the Chashma Shahi hut, which has been declared a sub-jail.
The maximum period of detention under the PSA is two years but can be applied variedly by the authorities ranging from six months to the maximum term. The person booked under the act can be held without any trial.
The authorities here have already booked other separatist leaders, including Shabir Shah, Muhammad Nayeem Khan and Asiya Andrabi, under the PSA. They have been shifted outside the valley.
–IANS