Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz on Monday claimed he continued to be under house detention, and that the main gate of his residence has now been locked from inside as well.
The former Union minister urged the country’s judicial system to take notice of the situation. “I have already explained my position that I continue to be under house arrest. The Supreme Court was told by the government on July 30 that I was a free man. I had categorically stated that the government had made a false statement before the Supreme Court and outside too,” Soz said in a statement here.
“I had rebutted the false statement that very day and subsequently also, but the government continued to spread the falsehood, rather unnecessarily,” he said.
Soz said the policemen posted at his house have now locked the main gate from inside as well. “I saw a change having taken place today in respect of myself being under house-arrest and it was that the main gate of my house has now been locked from inside, also,” he said.
“Certain observers from outside the state have been asking as to why the Supreme Court allowed narration of lies in its courtroom. To that question, I can only say that the country’s judicial system can take notice of all such situations,” the Congress leader said.
In an affidavit before the Supreme Court, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had said Soz was “never detained nor under house arrest” and there are “no restrictions on his movement subject to security clearance”.
The government’s affidavit came in response to a petition by Soz’s wife asking for his release from “illegal detention” and for him to be brought to the Court. The senior Congress leader had said on July 31 he would sue the government for his “unlawful house arrest” since August 5 last year, when the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and termed the government’s response in the Supreme Court that he was not under detention “falsehood”. ( PTI )
