SRINAGAR: Authorities on Thursday placed AAP MP Sanjay Singh and J&K Incharge Imran Hussain under house detention at a guest house in Srinagar to prevent them from protesting the illegal arrest of Doda MLA Mehraj Malik.
“The dictatorship is at its peak. I am in Srinagar at this moment. Raising one’s voice for rights and protesting in a democracy is our constitutional right. Today, there was a press conference and sit-in in Srinagar against the illegal arrest of Mehraj Malik but the government guest house has been turned into a police camp. I am not allowed to leave the guest house with Imran Hussain and other party leaders,” AAP MP Sanjay Singh in a post on X.
He also posted a video in which he can be seen telling policemen to open the gate and listen to them.
“Please open the door. We want to talk to you. Please let us come outside or you come inside and listen to us,” the AAP leaders tell the policemen standing guard outside the closed gate.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh said policemen are not telling them why they have been stopped and not allowed to move out.
“Administration is not telling us why we are being stopped. Is it a crime in democracy to stage a protest, hold a press conference and raise voice against illegal detention,” he said.
AAP leaders were scheduled to hold a press conference in Srinagar and stage a sit-in at Press Colony to lodge their protest against arrest of party MLA Mehraj Malik and his booking under PSA.
The AAP MLA from Doda Mehraj Malik was arrested on Monday and booked under PSA allows detention upto two year without charge or trial.
Mehraj, who had defeated BJP’s Gajay Singh Rana to win Doda Assembly seat in last year’s Assembly polls, has been lodged at District Jail Kathua.
Mehraj is the first sitting MLA in J&K to have been arrested and booked under PSA.
“The blatant suppression of democratic rights exposes the fear of the ruling establishment towards voices of accountability and dissent. We will not be silenced. Our struggle for justice, transparency, and the people’s rights in Jammu & Kashmir will continue with greater determination,” AAP MP Sanjay Singh said.
The authorities have imposed curfew-like restrictions and suspended mobile internet services in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir to thwart protests against the arrest of MLA Mehraj Malik.
Since his detention on Monday, the mountainous Doda district is on the boil. People at many places in Doda yesterday defied restrictions and staged protests to demand release of MLA Mehraj Malik.
The party has said the protests would continue and the party is also going to challenge MLA’s detention at J&K High Court.