In Jammu and Kashmir, Aam Aadmi Party legislator Mehraj Din Malik was released from Kathua jail today following the quashing of his detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) by the High Court.
Setting aside the detention order issued by the Doda District Magistrate against Malik on 8 September last year, Justice Mohd Yousuf Wani directed the authorities to “release the petitioner-detenu forthwith from his preventive detention.”
Mehraj Malik said that now that he has been released, he will continue to raise and speak about the issues of the people. AAP spokesperson and Malik’s lawyer Appu Singh Slathia said that Malik was released by jail authorities this morning after completion of all formalities.
As the gates of Kathua jail opened, several people shouted slogans in his support, danced to the beats of dholaks, and garlanded him with flowers. After his release, Malik reiterated that he would continue to fight for the people.
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh had yesterday quashed his preventive detention under the PSA, holding that the order was legally unsustainable and based on “non-application of mind.”
Malik, who is the AAP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit president, was detained in September last year for allegedly disturbing public order and was subsequently lodged in Kathua jail.
