Justice Atul Sreedharan made the observation while ordering the release of a 22-year-old man, who was detained last year under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act for allegedly promoting terrorist activities in Kashmir’s Pulwama.
One of the grounds on which his detention was justified was that he was a “hard core fundamentalist.”
The Court, however, termed this ground as vague and criticised the authorities for lucidly using the term “fundamentalist” without properly understanding what the term means.
The Court noted that the term “fundamentalist”, in the context of an Abrahamic faith, only denotes someone who steadfastly pursues or follows the fundamentals of such faith.
“Muslim who is a fundamentalist is merely someone who believes in the fundamentals of Islam and steadfastly pursues the same. It cannot have a negative bearing on his personality. The same is as a fundamentalist Muslim cannot be equated with an extremist or a separatist,” the Court explained.
Source: Barandbench
