J&K’s lone AAP MLA detained under Public Safety Act for one year

Jammu and Kashmir’s lone Aam Aadmi Party MLA, Mehraj Malik, was detained on Monday under the Public Safety Act for one year on charges of disturbing public order.

He is the first sitting legislator in the Union Territory to be held under the law.

The Public Safety Act is a preventive detention law that allows persons to be taken into custody to prevent them from acting against “the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order” in the Union Territory.

Malik, who was sent to Bhaderwah jail, has been named in 18 first information reports and 16 daily diary reports at police stations in Doda district, The Indian Express quoted unidentified officials as saying.

They alleged that he had disrupted public order when the administration was engaged in relief work after heavy rains and flash floods in Jammu and Kashmir.

Malik has been accused of attacking officials on duty, locking them in their offices and abusing and intimidating them in public, according to The Indian Express. He is also facing charges of abduction.

The case under the Public Safety Act will not affect Malik’s membership of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, since he has not been convicted in any of the cases.

Malik was elected from Doda in the 2024 Assembly elections, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Gajay Singh...

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