"Politically Motivated": Mehbooba Mufti's Plea On Prisoners Rejected

A setback for the People's Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti came after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court dismissed her Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking transfer of undertrial prisoners to jails in the Union Territory from those outside. The court termed the petition "politically motivated, vague, and unsupported by facts".

The bench, led by Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal, observed that Mufti's plea aimed at "garnering political advantage and positioning herself as a crusader of justice for a particular demographic."

The Court emphasised that the public interest litigation is not a tool for advancing political agendas or turning the judiciary into a political arena.

"PILs cannot be used for electoral gain, and courts should not become platforms for political campaigns. While political parties have legitimate channels to engage with voters, the judiciary must remain impartial and not be exploited for electoral advantage," the Court said.

The court stressed that PIL jurisdiction cannot be used for political leverage or transforming courts into forums for electoral campaigns.

The court, in its 15-page order passed on Tuesday, deemed it appropriate to observe that undertrials are facing trials before the respective courts.

"Judicial avenues were/are available to such undertrials for the redressal of any grievance concerning their detention.

"The omission on their part to avail themselves of these legal remedies is an indicative of the fact that they are not genuinely aggrieved of their retention in the prisons outside the UT of Jammu and Kashmir," the court said.

The petition was dismissed stating that petitioner Mehbooba Mufti stands as a third-party stranger to the cause and therefore has no locus standi to invoke court's jurisdiction. The litigation was deemed "misconceived" and dismissed accordingly.