Overview
- The Division Bench asked Mufti’s counsel to first satisfy the court on how the matter qualifies as a PIL serving public interest before admission.
- After the brief hearing, the court posted the case to a later date, with directions awaited and no substantive order issued.
- The petition seeks to transfer J&K undertrials held in other states back to local prisons unless authorities provide case-specific written justifications, subject to quarterly judicial review.
- Mufti argues that post‑2019 transfers breach Articles 14 and 21 by impeding access to courts, legal counsel and family visits, effectively turning the trial process into punishment.
- Proposed remedies include an oversight and grievance panel, standardized protocols for family and lawyer access, and government-funded travel support for relatives, with Mufti contrasting undertrials’ plight to paroles for Asaram and Gurmeet Ram Rahim.