The only Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA in Jammu and Kashmir has been detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in Doda district, reported PTI citing officials. AAP MLA Mehraj Malik has become the first sitting MLA to be detained under the PSA.
The AAP leader won from Doda constituency in the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir elections after defeating his nearest rival from the BJP. He won by a margin of over 4,538 votes and registered the first win for his party in the Union territory.
Before this, Malik had won the District Development Council elections from Kahara constituency of Doda on December 24, 2020. He resigned from the post after winning the assembly elections in October last year.
What is Public Safety Act?
The Public Safety Act is an administrative law that allow authorities detain a person without charge or trial. The period of detention can go up to two years in some cases.
After arrest, Malik was moved to an undisclosed location from Dak Bungalow, Doda, reported DD News. It added that the lone AAP MLA in the UT allegedly used abusive language against Deputy Commissioner Harvinder Singh during a Facebook Live session, causing widespread outrage.
The DCP confirmed the detention, stating 18 FIRs have been filed against Malik across various police stations. The PSA detention was triggered by his conduct related to the health centre, the report further stated.
Meanwhile, reacting to the development, Office of Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said the action was “unjustifiable” and that the Act has been “misused” by the J&K authorities.
“Invoking the Public Safety Act (PSA) against MLA Mehraj Malik is unjustifiable. If an elected representative has erred, he must be questioned and dealt with under due process of law. That is how accountability works in a democracy. The PSA, intended for exceptional cases of grave security threats, has been repeatedly misused in Jammu & Kashmir to detain individuals on vague and arbitrary grounds,” he said.
“It has effectively become a tool to silence voices. Such misuse erodes public trust in institutions and reduces a legal safeguard into an instrument of suppression. We strongly condemn the use of abusive language by Mehraj Malik, but this is not justice; it is repression,” he added.