New Delhi: Doda MLA and lone Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker in Jammu & Kashmir Mehraj Malik was taken into police custody under the J&K Public Safety Act (PSA) Monday. His arrest came a day after a viral video purportedly showed him verbally abusing Doda District Magistrate Harvinder Singh, alleging dereliction of duty, drawing condemnation from the local Sikh community.
After being taken into preventive custody, Malik was shifted to the District Jail Bhaderwah in Jammu.
Doda DM Harvinder Singh, in a letter to the Speaker of the J&K assembly, wrote: “The said action has been taken after due consideration of all relevant materials, reports, and circumstances that clearly establish that the continuance of such activities by the Hon’ble Member posed a grave threat to peace, public order, and tranquility in the district. Preventive detention under the PSA was, therefore, found necessary in the interest of maintaining public order and safeguarding law and order in the region.”
Doda Senior Superintendent of Police Sandeep Mehta told ThePrint that this action has been taken against Malik because of his “continuous involvement in various cases…18 cases overall since 2014”.
He added: “Reports from daily diary entries from various police stations indicated that his conduct was contributing to disorder in the law and order situation. Hence, the DM exercised the power enshrined under section 8(2) of the PSA and ordered his detention under section 8(1) (a).”
Under the PSA, authorities are permitted to detain individuals merely on suspicion that their activities were prejudicial to the security of the Union territory or public order. Detention also denies detainees the right to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest. There can be no prosecution or legal proceeding against the official who has passed the order. The period of detention can go up to two years under the PSA.
Several political leaders in J&K condemned Malik’s incarceration and implementation of the PSA.
J&K CM Omar Abdullah wrote in a post on X: “There is no justification for detaining Mehraj Malik under PSA. He’s not a threat to “public safety” & using this discredited law to detain him is wrong. If the unelected government can use its powers against an elected representative like this then how does anyone expect the people of J&K to continue to have faith in democracy.”
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal also wrote: “Is demanding a hospital for the people such a grave crime that an elected MLA has been thrown in jail for it? Mehraj Malik is a lion of the Aam Aadmi Party. He will always fight as the voice of the people for their rights. Jail, threats, and conspiracies can never intimidate any soldier of AAP.”
Taking to X, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Waheed Para attacked the administration and likened the move to using authoritarian measures.
“Strongly condemn the use of PSA against MLA Mehraj Malik. Such draconian laws are weaponised to silence political voices & crush dissent. Such authoritarian measures are no way to resolve differences in a democracy,” he wrote.
Sajad Lone, Handwara MLA and president of the J&K People’s Conference, condemned the use of the PSA against Malik, saying in a post on X: “This is a soulless democracy. The will of the people of J&K continues to be subservient. What is the fun of having elections if an elected representative cannot voice his sentiments. A very sad day for an already endangered democracy.”
In 2020, Malik won the District Development Council elections from the Kahara constituency. He resigned from his post after winning by a margin of over 4,538 votes in the 2024 assembly elections.
In May this year, Malik was booked in a separate case over an alleged altercation with a female doctor in Doda district.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)
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