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Arvind Kejriwal's ‘thanedar’ jibe as he blames PM Modi for PSA detention of J&K AAP MLA Mehraj Malik
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh quashed the PSA against AAP's Mehraj Malik who was booked last year under the PSA for 'disturbing public order'.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday made a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the detention of party legislator Mehraj Malik under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) that was quashed by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The court held that the order against Malik was legally unsustainable and based on "non-application of mind".
Following the court ruling, Kejriwal took to X and criticised PM Modi and blamed him for giving “illegal orders”. “Wo galti se PM ban gaye. Unko thanedar hona chahiye tha. (He became PM by mistake. He shoukd have been a jail officer),” Kejriwal wrote on X. Malik is the J&K unit chief of the AAP.
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah and CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami also highlighted the misuse of the stringent PSA that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases, while Malik's supporters took to streets in his home constituency in Doda to welcome the ruling.
"He should NEVER have been detained under PSA; in fact, he should never have been detained at all. His detention was a gross misuse of this law & totally unjustified. I hope the people responsible for this detention learn a valuable lesson from the decision of the High Court & reflect on the way these laws are being abused in J&K," he wrote.
Malik was detained under the PSA in September for allegedly disturbing public order and was subsequently lodged in the Kathua jail.
Setting aside the detention order issued by the Doda district magistrate against Malik on September 8 last year, Justice Mohd Yousuf Wani directed authorities to "release the petitioner/detenu forthwith from his preventive detention".
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Advocate Zulkarnain Chowdhary elaborated on the case. He said that the case was initially being held at the Jammu bench in the High Court of Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh and was later transferred to Kashmir.
"An elected representative was booked under the Public Safety Act. He was detained on September 8, 2025. The dossier was submitted by SSP Doda, and the final detention order was passed by the Doda Deputy Commissioner. Then we challenged this detention at the Jammu bench in the High Court of Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh. The proceedings kept ongoing here. But, as soon as the case was almost completed, the judge was transferred to Kashmir. We had to go to Kashmir to hear this case," he said, ANI reported.
