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Peoples Democratic Party MLA Waheed Para on Thursday demanded the release of AAP MLA Mehraj Malik, who was booked under provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978 (PSA) on September 8.
Waheed Para said that his party will raise the issue in the J-K Assembly. "Mehraj Malik should be released. We condemn the Public Safety Act...We will raise this issue in the House," the PDP MLA told ANI. MLA Mehraj Malik, representing Doda constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, was booked under the provisions of the PSA on the grounds of his activities being prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. After his detention, the authorities had issued a prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Surakaksha Sanhita (BNSS) at Bhalessa in Doda district. The Public Safety Act, a preventive detention law, allows authorities in Jammu & Kashmir to detain individuals without trial for up to two years in certain cases. Earlier this month, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticised the use of the PSA against Mehraj Malik, calling it a misuse of the law. He said that while there may have been complaints against Malik, using such a harsh law against an elected representative was excessive. Speaking to the reporters, CM Omar Abdullah said, "Law and order and policing are not part of the elected government's responsibility. Whatever complaints might have been there about the conduct of the MLA, the law that has been used to detain him is absolutely a misuse of the law and an excessive use of force against an elected representative." However, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti questioned the Chief Minister's offer to provide legal assistance to Malik's family, stating that the MLA is capable of handling his own legal proceedings. Speaking to reporters, she said, "PSA was imposed on Mehraj Malik and he was put in jail. After that, our Chief Minister meets his father and says that he will help in their legal proceedings. I think Mehraj is an MLA and he is capable enough to handle his own legal help. If the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, wants to provide legal assistance, then he should help those thousands of prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir who are not capable." (ANI)
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