SC seeks reply of Centre, J&K on plea of Congress leader Soz's wife against his house detention

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Central government and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir to a petition challenging the detention of Congress leader and former union minister Saifuddin Soz.

The habeas corpus petition filed by Soz’s wife, Mumtazunnisa Soz, was heard by a bench of justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee, which declined a request by Soz’s counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, for an early hearing of the case. The bench posted the matter to be taken up in the second week of July.

The term habeas corpus literally translates as “produce the body”, and is a plea seeking a directive to the government to produce a detainee in court and to release her or him if the detention is found to be illegal.