'I Am Still Not A Free Man,' Says Saifuddin Soz Fortnight After Detention Drama

Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz has claimed he was still being held in detention by the Jammu and Kashmir administration despite a nationwide uproar two weeks ago over his personal freedom.

A habeas corpus petition by the 82-year-old leader was dismissed by the Supreme Court on July 29 after the J&K administration said the senior Congress leader was never under detention. Soz had moved the top court saying he had been under detention in his home since August 5 2019.

However, a day after his petition was dismissed, a video emerged of Soz being prevented by security men from stepping out if his house. In fact, Soz was seen being physically prevented from talking to media persons on the other side the fenced wall of his home.

"I am not free. I continue to be under detention," Soz told Outlook on Sunday.

“Nothing has changed since then. I was under house arrest from August 5, 2019, and I continued to be under house arrest,” Soz added.

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, no grounds were provided for Soz's detention. The petition had said all his efforts to obtain the detention orders had been of no avail. However, in their counter affidavit, the Home Department had claimed that the petitioner had neither been detained nor put under house arrest. The counter-affidavit added 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.