NEW DELHI, March 21 (UPI) -- Amnesty International called for the repeal of an Indian law it said is used to keep hundreds of people in Jammu and Kashmir State without charge or trial.
The rights group in London said the Public Safety Act, under which a person can be held for as long as two years, is used "to secure the long-term detention of individuals against whom there is insufficient evidence for a trial."
The report claimed estimates of the number of people detained under the PSA in the past two decades ranged from 8,000 to 20,000.
"The Jammu and Kashmir authorities are using PSA detentions as a revolving door to keep people they can't or won't convict through proper legal channels locked up and out of the way," AI's Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said.
Those detained include political leaders and activists, suspected members or supporters of armed opposition groups, lawyers, journalists and protesters including children, the report said.
Zarifi said the use of administrative detention does not conform to international human rights legal obligations and urged the Indian government to "ensure that Jammu and Kashmir authorities repeal the PSA and end the odious system of administration detention once and for all."
