Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Wednesday criticised the arrest of party MLA Mehraj Malik under the Public Safety Act (PSA), calling it “unconstitutional”.
Malik, a legislator from Doda, has been detained under the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, on grounds that his activities were prejudicial to the maintenance of public order, officials said.
Singh, who arrived in Jammu earlier in the day, said he would meet party leaders in the region and review the next steps. He stated that the party would raise the issue on the “sadak” (streets), in the “sadan” (Parliament), and possibly in the Supreme Court as well.
“It is unconstitutional to slap the Public Safety Act (PSA) on Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Doda MLA, Mehraj Malik. This is the government’s anti-people mindset that a man was asking for a hospital, you slapped PSA on him,” Sanjay Singh told ANI in Jammu.
He further alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is targeting AAP leaders.
“BJP, the Prime Minister is always after AAP, that is what is happening with us…We will take up this matter strongly, at the street and in Parliament, and we may also approach the Supreme Court,” he added.
Doda MLA Mehraj Malik was booked under provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978 (PSA) on Monday on grounds of his activities being prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. Preventive detention under the PSA was found necessary in the interest of maintaining public order and safeguarding law and order in the region, according to officials.
Shamas Din Malik, father of the detained AAP MLA, said that his son was wrongly charged under the Public Safety Act (PSA), mentioning that the court will decide the legality of his arrest.
“The court will decide now…There was a fight with DC sahib (Deputy Commissioner of Doda)…He has been wrongly charged under PSA,” Shamas Din Malik told ANI.
Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the detention of Mehraj Malik under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), saying that the MLA’s detention affects the trust of people in democracy.
“I am not able to understand what he did to get detained under such a strict law like the PSA? Was there any incident of stone-pelting? On the contrary, there is no action against those who played with our religious sentiments and spoiled the atmosphere at the Hazratbal Shrine. Only innocents are being harassed. But no action is being taken against those who hurt our religious sentiments,” the J-K CM told reporters.
AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal strongly reacted to the arrest, questioning the rationale behind the same, further stating that it was an attack on democracy.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Waheed Para termed the arrest a “direct assault on democracy,” while calling out the endorsement of PSA against an elected MLA by the Assembly Secretariat.
Amid apprehensions of possible disturbances to peace and order, the district administration of Doda has imposed restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS)(ANI)
