Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the release of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference President Farooq Abdullah from detention, Live Law reported. Vaiko said Abdullah was due to attend a conference on the birth anniversary of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CN Annadurai in Chennai on September 15.

Abdullah, as well as other Kashmiri politicians like his son Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, have been under detention since the Centre scrapped special status to Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, and imposed a curfew in the state. Vaiko’s petition seeks a direction to the government to produce Abdullah before the Supreme Court, and to set him free as he is scheduled to attend the conference.

The petition also said that Vaiko had written to the Centre on August 28, seeking permission to allow Abdullah to travel to Chennai, but the government has not yet responded. “The actions of the respondents are completely illegal and arbitrary and violative of the right to protection of life and personal liberty, right to protection from arrest and detention and also against right to free speech and expression, which is the cornerstone of a democratic nation,” the petition read. It also accused the Centre of imposing an “undeclared emergency” in Jammu and Kashmir.

Late last month, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, requesting permission to visit Srinagar to meet his ailing party colleague Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami. The Supreme Court had granted Yechury permission, and the CPI(M) leader visited Tarigami on August 30.

On September 5, the top court also allowed Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iljita to travel to Srinagar to meet her mother, who was put under detention last month.

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