High Court upholds – , Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday upheld the detention of a woman under the Public Safety Act. The woman has been accused by the government of being an “overground worker (OGW) who had close contacts with Musaib Lakhvi, nephew of 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Appellant Shaista Maqbool was arrested on April 4, 2023, on the basis of a dossier prepared by the SSP of Bandipora, North Kashmir.

He was detained under Section 8 of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, which was rejected by the HC on May 23, 2025. In his appeal before a division bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli, Maqbool argued that the grounds for detention did not specify any date, month or year.

However, the bench ruled that once the detaining authority has satisfied itself on the basis of the material before it, the sufficiency of that material to justify the detention is beyond the scope of judicial review. Therefore, it cannot be said that the detention was based on vague or vague grounds.

The bench said, “This contention of the Appellant is found to be false. ” It needs to be noted that the illegal activities attributed to the Appellant, as mentioned in the grounds of detention, have been carried out in a discreet and clandestine manner, and it is not possible to obtain concrete evidence to establish the same.