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J&K’s lone AAP legislator Mehraj Malik detained under stringent PSA
The lone AAP MLA in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehraj Malik, was on Monday detained under the stringent PSA for allegedly disturbing public order in Doda district
The lone Aam Aadmi Party MLA in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehraj Malik, was on Monday detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) for allegedly disturbing public order in Doda district.
This is for the first time that a sitting MLA has been taken into custody under the PSA, a specific, preventive detention law applicable to J&K allowing detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases. The move drew condemnation from several political parties, including AAP which asserted that “the action will not deter its legislator from speaking for the rights of people.”
The J&K assembly secretariat released an official intimation received from Doda deputy commissioner Harvinder Singh regarding the invoking of the PSA against the MLA. An assembly bulletin, quoting the DC, said: “Malik has been booked under the provisions of the PSA on grounds of his activities being prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.”
Malik (37), chief of the party’s J-K unit, was initially detained by police at Dak Bungalow as he was preparing to visit flood-hit areas of his constituency. According to officials, a dossier was prepared by police against Malik, and he was subsequently shifted to Bhaderwah district jail on the orders of Doda DC with whom the MLA was involved in a public spat on social media for quite some time.
Authorities said the PSA was slapped on Malik due to the seriousness of his repeated provocations and causing public order issues hampering the relief and recovery operations being carried out in the areas hit by landslides and flooding in the district.
“The action (against Malik) has been taken after due consideration of all relevant materials, reports, and circumstances that clearly establish that the continuance of such activities by the legislator posed a grave threat to peace, public order, and tranquillity in the district. Preventive detention under the PSA was, therefore, found necessary,” read Doda DC’s letter to assembly speaker.
According to a senior legislative assembly official, the consent of the speaker is not mandatory for the police to arrest an MLA—even during an assembly session—in criminal matters. “The speaker only needs to be informed in such cases,” he added.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah slammed the action against Malik. “There is no justification for detaining Mehraj Malik under PSA. He’s not a threat to public safety and using this discredited law to detain him is wrong,” said the CM.
The action against Malik, who has often courted controversies with his statements, comes amid an FIR filed against him for allegedly using abusive language against the Doda DC, a young IAS officer, who has been awarded by President Droupadi Murmu for effectively implementing welfare schemes for the public in the district.
A massive protest was held by government employees who came out in support of the DC after Malik used a social media platform to launch a tirade against him.
The protesters accused Malik of “habitually” hurling abuses at senior government officers, including doctors, and provoking youths against the official machinery.
During his detention at Dak Bungalow, Malik posted a video on his social media account in which he claimed that he was being stopped from meeting people of his constituency who have “suffered immensely” due to the recent flash floods and torrential rains.
“There are many areas in my constituency which are without road connectivity, ration and without shelter after their homes were damaged but I am being detained here,” Malik said. “I have no right to speak or protest for my people…some people are trying to give communal colour to my objections against the deputy commissioner,” he added.
The officials said several cases and complaints are registered against Malik for his “uncultured” behaviour and fights with government officials.
Recently, he was seen involved in a public order situation at Doda’s Kencha village where he allegedly seized medicines and equipment of the health department and locked it, said officials. In April, Malik entered into a scuffle with some BJP and PDP members inside the J-K assembly complex.
Slamming the action, AAP said those raising their voice for people’s rights were being treated as a threat. “Is demanding a hospital for the people of your area such a grave crime that an elected MLA has to be thrown in jail for it? Mehraj Malik is the lion of the Aam Aadmi Party,” AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said in a post on X in Hindi.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peoples Conference also criticised the detention, calling it an attempt to suppress dissent and an assault on democracy. However, the J&K unit of the BJP welcomed the action against Malik.
Malik won the Doda constituency in the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir elections by a margin of over 4,538 votes, securing the first assembly seat for the AAP in the Union Territory. He had previously won the district development council elections from Kahara constituency in December 2020.
