New Delhi: A senior lawyer and former president of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association (HCBA) has been booked under the Public Safety Act and he will be lodged in a jail outside the Valley, his family said.

Nazir Ahmad Ronga, who has been targeted by J&K administration in the past for raising his voice against the reading down of Article 370 and his political affiliations, was taken from his residence in Srinagar without an arrest warrant by a J&K police team at around 1:30am on Thursday, said his son Umair Ronga.

Umair, who is also a lawyer, said that the police official leading the party told the family that “it is an order from above”. Later, he said, the authorities told them that the senior advocate was being detained under the PSA and would be lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu.

“We are in a state of shock and profound distress. His health has not been good lately,” he said. In a post on X, Ronga also shared two clips of CCTV footage showing a group of police personnel arriving at their residence and exiting along with the senior lawyer.

Days after Mian Qayoom's arrest

The detention follows the arrest of Mian Qayoom, another senior advocate and the last elected president of HCBA. Qayoom was held in a terrorism conspiracy case, termed as a “primary suspect” and arrested by the State Investigation Agency of J&K last month in connection with the murder of advocate Babar Qadri.

Qadri was killed on September 24, 2020 by unidentified gunmen disguised as clients at his Srinagar residence.

Also read: Days After Ex-Head's Arrest, J&K Admin Bans Elections to High Court Bar Association

The Wire has contacted Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Bilal A. Bhat and Inspector General of J&K Police (Kashmir) V. K. Birdi for details of the case and the PSA dossier of Ronga, and whether any other charges have been brought against him. This story will be updated as their replies are received.

Ronga’s detention comes days after the administration banned the HCBA election due to take place on July 1 by citing unspecified fears of a "breach of peace". Many lawyers believe that the ban and the ongoing crackdown on HCBA’s office-bearers was part of a wider attack on the lawyers’ body, which advocates "peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue”.

In its ban order on June 25, Srinagar district administration had also raised questions about the HCBA’s credentials as a legal entity under the Advocates Act, 1961, referring to a letter by Kashmir Advocates Association (KAA), a parallel lawyers’ body that had accused the HCBA of propagating “secessionist ideology” in Jammu and Kashmir.

The KAA was set up in Jammu and Kashmir after the reading down of Article 370 and it is widely believed to enjoy the backing of the state.

On August 4, 2019, a day before the Union government changed the constitutional relationship of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India, Ronga was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act which has been termed as a lawless law by Amnesty International.

'Able to convince your electorate to come out'

Ronga’s PSA dossier had noted that he had the potential to mobilise people to participate in voting. “Your capacity can be gauged from this fact that you were able to convince your electorate to come out and vote in huge numbers during poll boycotts,” the dossier reads.

The government had also blamed Ronga for raising his voice against the reading down of Article 370. “You have led many protest marches in this behalf and created problem in public order in Srinagar district,” reads the 2019 dossier while accusing him of being affiliated with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

On January 10, 2020, the PSA against Ronga and 25 other individuals was revoked, hours after the Supreme Court came down heavily on J&K administration over the imposition of Internet ban and prohibitory orders in Kashmir valley.

In November 2022, a disciplinary committee of J&K high court has summoned Ronga, Mian Qayoom and G N Shaheen on a complaint of “professional misconduct” against them by Achal Sethi, then secretary to the UT government, department of law, justice and parliamentary affairs,

“You are hereby summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee on December 17 at 10.30am at the high court of J&K and Ladakh at Srinagar in the above-titled complaint,” read the order by the court. While Qayoom and Ronga have headed HCBA in the past, Shaheen has served as its general secretary.

Sethi has urged the court to open “disciplinary action against the three advocates ... for committing professional and other misconduct under the Advocates Act.”

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