A local court has designated the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre’s (SKICC) Centaur Hotel as a subsidiary jail to pave the way for the meeting of relatives with around 50 mainstream leaders detained there since the August 5 decision to revoke J&K’s special status. According to the order of the Srinagar magistrate, the deputy superintendent of police, Security Kashmir, was designated as Superintendent of Subsidiary Jail to ensure basic legal provisions contained in the Jail Manual are implemented.
The order follows the huge rush of relatives and friends approaching the Centaur Hotel for meeting. “The jail superintendent will take all measures to allow interviews and letters; apprise relatives and legal advisers on the detained persons, who could be allowed to meet once or twice,” the order reads.
Shabnum Gani Lone, sister of Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone, on August 21 filed a petition before the court to allow her and her mother to meet Mr. Lone. The family was allowed to meet Mr. Lone on August 23.
It is after 19 days of detention of around 50 mainstream politicians at the Centaur Hotel that the families can freely meet now.
Several top politicians from the National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Peoples Conference (PC) and the Congress are detained at the hotel, which was constructed in 1980s by the then Chief Minister Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. The Hotel Lake View Centaur was first state institution that allowed outside takeover by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).
Those detained included NC’s top rung leaders and former ministers like Ali Muhammad Sagar, Salman Sagar and Mubarak Gul; PDP’s Nayeem Akhtar, Khursheed Alam and Waheed Para; and PC’s Sajad Lone, Imran Ansari and Sheikh Imran, who is current deputy mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).
