Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration on Monday booked Jammu and Kashmir’s lone Aam Aadmi Party MLA, Mehraj Malik, under the stringent Public Safety Act following a face-off with a local bureaucrat.
The move sparked tension in Jammu’s Chenab Valley at a time tempers are running high in Kashmir over purported detentions in the Hazratbal emblem vandalism row.
Malik is the first sitting MLA to be booked under the PSA since last year’s Assembly elections. His arrest, in cases unrelated to the Hazratbal row, has triggered outrage and led to allegations that the government is continuing its iron-fist policy against detractors while ignoring calls for action from ruling National Conference leaders and other politicians against BJP leader and waqf board chief Darakhshan Andrabi.
Andrabi is facing backlash from the NC, PDP and other parties for stirring a row by putting up an inauguration plaque engraved with the Ashoka emblem, which is widely viewed as an idol in the Valley and therefore considered inappropriate for installation in a mosque.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said the since the police had “denied” to file an FIR against Andrabi, she would approach Nigeen police station “to initiate an FIR immediately, given the gravity of the offence of deliberately hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims thereby provoking them”.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah condemned Malik’s arrest. He posted 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?”
Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi had on Sunday said more than two dozen people had been detained in connection with the Hazratbal emblem row, although the police were tight-lipped about the development over fears that it could ignite protests.
In Jammu’s Doda district, the situation turned volatile after the administration booked Malik under the PSA, triggering protests in his home district.
Malik has had several face-offs with Doda deputy commissioner Harvinder Singh. Multiple FIRs were lodged against him in the past few months. The tipping point came on Sunday when Malik was accused of using foul language against the DC, which he denied.
The PSA allows detention without trial for up to two years.
Officials said Malik was sent to Bhaderwah jail because he had been named in 18 FIRs and other complaints.
In a letter to the Speaker, the Doda DC said Malik had been booked on grounds of activities “being prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”.
“The said action has been taken after due consideration of all relevant material, reports and circumstances that clearly establish that continuance of such activities of Hon’ble member posed a grave threat to peace, public order and tranquillity in the district,” the order read.
Malik resisted the police’s bid to arrest him, accusing them of resorting to “hooliganism”.
“Am I a terrorist? I am an elected representative. You should be ashamed,” he told the police, accusing the DC of harassing government employees.
“I don’t want a law and order problem. Your approach is hooliganism. If you do it, people will come out to protest.”
