The court agreed for a hearing after senior advocate Kapil Sibal sought an urgent hearing of the plea before Justice Ramana’s bench.

Sibal told the bench that they have filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of Abdullah under the PSA and the matter should be heard this week.

In her petition, Pilot said that disagreement with policies of the Central Government is a lawful right of a citizen in a democracy (especially to a member of opposition). She added that allegations against Abdullah are not supported by any material, whether in the form of social media posts or otherwise.

To the contrary, there exists overwhelming evidence in the form of tweets and public statements by Abdullah prior to his detention pointing towards his exemplary conduct wherein he has repeatedly requested to people to maintain peace, the plea before the apex court read.

Pilot also said that the dossier handed over to Abdullah along with order of detention under the PSA contains patently false and ridiculous material, essentially accusing him of becoming a popular figure among general masses and possessing considerable influence over them.

The National Conference leader’s ability to “convince his electorate to vote in huge numbers” and Mehbooba Mufti being “referred (to) as ‘Daddy’s girl’ and ‘Kota Rani’” for “her dangerous and insidious machinations and usurping profile and nature” are among the reasons cited by the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration for invoking the stringent PSA against the two former chief ministers.