J&K High Court quashes Public Safety Act detention of scholar Shafat Maqbool Wani over possession of books, finding 'complete lack of application of mind'

A district magistrate ordered Shafat Maqbool Wani, an academic scholar, detained under the J&K Public Safety Act on September 13, 2025; his petition said a National Investigation Agency special judge had granted him bail the same day. On September 2, 2026 (reported September 5), Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi quashed the order, holding that possession of books with politically sensitive titles does not justify preventive detention and that invoking it on that basis showed a complete lack of application of mind.