SRINAGAR: A day after the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court quashed his Public Safety Act (PSA) detention, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Doda, Mehraj Malik, was released from Kathua jail on Tuesday morning.
Mehraj was released from Kathua jail this morning. He was greeted by his supporters, who were waiting in large numbers outside the jail complex, chanting “Jail ke taale toot gaye”.
The MLA was lodged in Kathua jail after being arrested and booked under the PSA on 8 September last year.
High Court judge Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani, yesterday, quashed Mehraj’s PSA detention, observing that, based on the facts and circumstances of the case, there was no apprehension that the detenu was likely to act in any manner prejudicial to “public order”.
“The allegations against the petitioner/detenu, covered under numerous FIRs, are presently under investigation/trial before the competent authorities/courts. The petition is allowed and the impugned detention order bearing No. PSA 05 of 2025 dated 08.09.2025 issued by the District Magistrate, Doda, is quashed with a direction to release the detenu forthwith from his preventive detention in the instant case,” the judge ordered in the verdict.
On September 8, Mehraj Malik, the AAP MLA from Doda, was arrested and booked under the stringent PSA on grounds that his activities were prejudicial to the maintenance of public order, based on an order issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Doda.
The AAP MLA was arrested and booked under PSA after a verbal duel with then DC Doda Harvinder Singh over the shifting of a primary health centre. The MLA had allegedly used abusive language against the DC, following which the PSA was invoked.
Mehraj is the first sitting MLA in Jammu and Kashmir to be booked under the PSA, which allows detention of up to two years without charge or trial.
While criticising the DC, the judge observed, “The DC Doda, who had become a party in the health centre shifting row, ought to have disassociated himself or should have recused from exercising his powers under the PSA. He should have, at the first instance, referred the matter to the government through the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, for an appropriate decision, with legal opinion from the Law Department. Instead, he issued the impugned detention order in a vindictive manner, which is legally unsustainable being hit by the doctrine of personal bias, as he became a judge in his own cause,” the court observed.
Mehraj’s PSA detention was challenged in the J&K High Court and, after nearly eight months of legal proceedings, the court quashed the MLA’s detention.
AAP president Arvind Kejriwal welcomed the quashing of the PSA, saying, “Your struggle is an example for everyone.”
J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Mehraj should never have been detained under PSA; in fact, he should never have been detained at all.
“His detention was a gross misuse of this law and totally unjustified. I hope those responsible for this detention learn a valuable lesson from the High Court’s decision and reflect on the way these laws are being abused in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
