In an unprecedented move, Mehraj Malik, a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was detained on Monday under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for allegedly disturbing public order in Doda district, officials said here.

This is the first time a sitting MLA has been held under the stringent PSA that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years, drawing condemnation from several political parties, including AAP which asserted that the action will not deter its legislator from speaking for the rights of people.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah said Malik is "not a threat to public safety” and using a "discredited law to detain him is wrong".

The 37-year-old AAP legislator from Doda and chief of the party's J-K unit was initially detained by police on Monday morning at Dak Bungalow as he prepared to visit flood-affected areas of his constituency.

According to officials, the police prepared a dossier against Malik, and he was subsequently shifted to Bhaderwah district jail on the orders of Doda's Deputy Commissioner, Harvinder Singh, with whom the MLA was involved in a public spat on social media for quite some time.

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Secretariat released an official intimation received from the District Magistrate of Doda regarding the invoking of the PSA against the MLA.

An Assembly bulletin, quoting the district magistrate, said, "Malik has been booked under the provisions of the PSA on grounds of his activities being prejudicial to the maintenance of public order."

The bulletin added that the action was based on "relevant materials, reports, and circumstances that clearly establish that the continuance of such activities by the Member posed a grave threat to peace, public order and tranquility in the district."

CM Abdullah slammed the action against the MLA. "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. 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," he said on X.

The detention of Malik, who has frequently been at the centre of controversies for his statements, comes amid a major protest by government employees who rallied in support of Deputy Commissioner Harvinder Singh after Malik launched a tirade against him on a social media platform.

The protesting employees accused Malik of "habitually" abusing senior government officers and provoking youths against the official machinery.

In a statement, the employees praised the deputy commissioner for his "exceptional service, integrity and dedication to public welfare," calling him a "beacon of hope" for Doda residents, particularly those affected by floods.

They condemned the MLA's use of "abusive language and baseless allegations" as "unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable." Officials noted that dozens of cases and complaints have been filed against Malik over the past year for his alleged "uncultured" behaviour and conflicts with government officials.

Several of Malik's associates have also been detained under the PSA, and additional security forces have been deployed in sensitive areas to maintain order.

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.

"He will always remain the voice of the people, fighting for their rights. Jail, threats and conspiracies… none of these can ever scare any soldier of AAP,” the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor said.

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 Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP welcomed the action against Malik, saying "elements who have entered politics and are indulging in using abusive and unparliamentary language against the general public and public functionaries" should be dealt with in accordance with the law.

While being detained at Dak Bungalow, Malik posted a video on his social media account claiming he was being prevented from meeting his constituents, who he said had "suffered immensely" from recent flash floods and torrential rains.

In the video, Malik accused the deputy commissioner of orchestrating the employee protests against him.

"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 alleged that the deputy commissioner had "booked six of my colleagues in a fake case and is oppressing the poor."

In April, Malik was involved in a scuffle with some BJP and PDP members inside the J-K Assembly complex.

The altercation occurred after BJP leaders objected to his alleged remarks that Hindus get drunk during festivals, while PDP legislators took issue with a statement he made about PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Malik later claimed his statement on Hindus was taken out of context.

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.

"Strongly condemn the use of PSA against MLA Mehraj Malik. Such draconian laws are weaponised to silence political voices and crush dissent. Such authoritarian measures are no way to resolve differences in a democracy," Waheed Para, a PDP MLA, posted on X on Monday.

He also flayed the assembly secretariat for merely issuing a statement and termed it "shameful surrender".

He said the PSA against an elected MLA is a direct assault on democracy and called upon the chief minister to act and "don't allow the institution of MLA, the last agency of the people, to be silenced. Today it's Mehraj, tomorrow it could be you."

Senior CPM leader M Y Tarigami demanded immediate revocation of PSA against Malik and said, "Slapping PSA on an elected member of the Legislative Assembly sets a very wrong precedent".

People's Conference leader Sajad Gani Lone called the move "yet another assault on the democratic fabric of Jammu and Kashmir."

In a statement, he said, "We strongly condemn the use of the PSA against MLA Mehraj Malik. This is a soulless democracy," adding that such actions reduce the democratic process to a "mere facade."

Lone questioned the purpose of holding elections if an elected representative is denied the right to express his sentiments, warning that such measures only deepen the "crisis of credibility" for democratic institutions in the region.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.