Jammu and Kashmir police have booked six men under the stringent Public Safety Act following "vandalism" during a street protest in Sopore against the alleged sexual harassment of a schoolgirl by her teacher.
No arrests have yet been made over the sexual harassment complaint 12 days after hundreds of girl students protested the alleged crime at the Sopore school.
On the same day, April 13, crowds stoned the police in Sopore and allegedly damaged what the authorities described as "public property", leading to the PSA detentions.
Many, including former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, have questioned why the PSA was invoked against people protesting an alleged sex crime.
The PSA allows detention without trial for up to two years. But many detainees end up spending many years in jail with the authorities detaining them under a different law each time they are released.
The police said that others who had engaged in "vandalism" on April 13 would face similar action. The crackdown is part of a years-long policy of zero tolerance against any form of violence.
A police statement described the PSA detentions as "firm action against elements involved in disturbing public order" without mentioning that the protest was linked to allegations of the sexual harassment of a schoolgirl.
It accused the six detainees of "instigating unrest, indulging in vandalism and attempting to disturb peace during a recent protest by students".
They have been lodged in the Bhadarwah jail, the statement said. Bhadarwah, in Doda district of Jammu, is about 300km from Sopore.
The police had registered an FIR relating to the sexual harassment charges after the schoolgirls' protest, but have not arrested anyone.
However, the Jammu and Kashmir education department has ordered a probe and suspended the teacher. The department said the probe report would be submitted within 15 days.
On Saturday, Mehbooba regretted the "rampant" use of the PSA.
"There was a case of harassment with a girl in Sopore. This enraged the youth. They resorted to stone-throwing. I do not support that but six youths have been booked under the PSA," she told a crowd in Anantnag.
"When an FIR (is) lodged against youth(s), they (the accused) are worth nothing and are barred from getting passports or jobs."
She added: "After (spending) eight to ten years (in jail), they will be told, 'You are innocent'. By then their lives will be over. There are those who have been released and are grandfathers but continue receiving summons from police."
Sopore is part of Baramulla whose deputy commissioner, Syeed Fakhruddin Hamid, recently received a high court rebuke for "failing to apply his mind" while approving PSA detention in a case in Anantnag, where he was previously posted. Hamid is a 2017-batch IAS officer.
"This court has no hesitation in observing that the (PSA)… vis-a-vis the petitioner has been invoked by non-seriousness of standard with which even a motorist is not subjected to a routine traffic challan," the high court had observed on February 5 while quashing the Anantnag detention order.
The six Sopore detainees are Umar Akbar Hajam, Salman Ahmed Shala, Altaf Ahmed Sheikh, Mubashir Ahmed Gilkar, Muzammil Mushtaq Changa and Majid Firdous Dar.