The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday set aside the preventive detention of Mehraj Malik, an MLA from Doda, which had been ordered by the district administration in September under the Public Safety Act.
Malik, who represents Doda and leads the Aam Aadmi Party unit in Jammu and Kashmir, had been detained for a year starting September 8 on allegations of disrupting public order.
The Public Safety Act allows authorities in the Union Territory to detain individuals preemptively to prevent threats to state security or public order, and Malik was reportedly the first sitting legislator in the region to be held under this law, Scroll.in reported.
In its ruling, the court found that the reasons cited for the detention did not satisfy the legal standard required to classify them as threats to public order. Instead, the issues were described as falling within the scope of ordinary law-and-order matters already addressed through existing FIRs.
Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani observed that preventive detention should not replace the normal legal process or be used to ease the burden on investigating authorities. He also indicated that there was insufficient material to demonstrate that Malik was likely to engage in activities that could disturb public order.
The court further noted that many of the cases against Malik were still under investigation or related to election-related violations, such as breaches of the Model Code of Conduct, and therefore did not justify such detention.
It also pointed out the absence of a clear and recent connection between earlier allegations and the detention order issued in September.
Malik has been named in multiple FIRs and daily diary reports in Doda district, with accusations including disrupting administrative work during flood relief efforts, confronting officials, confining them in offices, and using abusive or intimidating language. He also faces an allegation of abduction.
In the 2024 Assembly elections, Malik won the Doda seat by defeating Gajay Singh by 4,538 votes, securing the Aam Aadmi Party’s first representation in the Jammu and Kashmir legislature.
Prior to this, he had been elected to the Doda District Development Council from Kahara in 2020, a position he later resigned from after becoming an MLA.