"Fundamentalist Muslim Cannot Be Equated With An Extremist Or A Separatist": Jammu & Kashmir High Court

"A fundamentalist Muslim cannot be equated with an extremist or a separatist," the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court observed recently.

The remarks were made by single bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan while dealing with a petition challenging preventive detention of a 22 years old Muslim man inter alia on the ground that he has become a “hard core fundamentalist” and voluntarily agreed to work as Over Ground Worker of the TRF (The Resistance Front), alleged LeT outfit.

The bench observed,

"The usage of the phrase “fundamentalist ideology” by the District Magistrate, does not necessarily mean that the detenue possess an extremist or separatist ideology. The Oxford „Fundamentalist ideology‟ is part and parcel of the Abrahamic faith where the adherents have to necessarily believe in 4 certain fundamentals of the religion to be accepted as the adherents of that religion. Therefore, someone who steadfastly pursues or follows the fundamentals of an Abrahamic faith, is undoubtedly a fundamentalist but there is no negativity associated with it and it is distinct from an extremist or a separatist."

So far as Petitioner's case is concerned, Court said,

"Fundamentalist an adherent of fundamentalism‟ pertaining to a 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. Therefore, the said ground also is vague and has been used lucidly without proper understanding."

The detention order issued by the District Magistrate of Pulwama cited that it was necessary to prevent the detenu from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State. This order was challenged by the detenu's father.