Kashmir: Ex-IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal booked under PSA

Faesal has been in detention since being arrested on August 14 last year

20-Shah-Faesal Shah Faesal | Umer Asif

Former IAS officer Shah Faesal became the latest leader in Jammu and Kashmir to be booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), media reports on Saturday said.

The PSA allows a maximum detention period of up to two years without trial.

Shah Faesal had been kept in detention under Section 107 of the CrPC since being arrested on August 14 last year. He was moved to the MLA hostel In Srinagar. Shah Faesal had been the topper in the 2009 civil service examination, becoming the first Kashmiri to do so. He resigned from service in January 2019 to protest "killings" in Jammu and Kashmir and launched his own political outfit.

Faesal joins a growing list of key political figures in Kashmir to have been booked under the PSA. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah was among the first key leaders to be booked under the PSA, being charged under the law in September last year. The duration of his custody under the PSA was subsequently extended.

Recently, Farooq's son and another former chief minister, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti were detained under the Public Safety Act.