Jammu, April 28: Aam Aadmi Party legislator Mehraj Malik was released from Kathua jail on Tuesday after the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh quashed his detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA), terming it legally unsustainable.
Justice Mohd Yousuf Wani set aside the detention order issued by the Doda district magistrate on September 8 last year and directed authorities to “release the petitioner-detenu forthwith from his preventive detention.”
“Malik was released by jail authorities this morning after completion of all formalities,” his lawyer and AAP spokesperson Appu Singh Slathia said.
Following his release, Malik said he would continue to raise issues concerning the people. “I am now out of jail. I thank the judiciary for justice to me. I will continue to raise the issues and talk about people,” he told reporters.
Scenes of celebration were witnessed outside Kathua jail, where supporters raised slogans, danced to the beats of dholaks and garlanded the leader.
The High Court on Monday quashed Malik’s preventive detention, observing that the order was based on “non-application of mind” and lacked legal justification.
In its 87-page judgment, the court emphasized the distinction between “law and order” and “public order,” stating that the material on record did not warrant invoking preventive detention under the PSA.
The court noted that the alleged activities attributed to Malik did not amount to “public disorder” and found “no live link or proximity” between the cited criminal cases and the need for detention.
It further observed that most cases against him related to routine law and order issues, including election-related matters, which did not justify detention under the PSA.
Malik, who is also the AAP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit president, was detained in September for allegedly disturbing public order and was later lodged in Kathua jail.
He had filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court on September 24, challenging his detention and seeking Rs 5 crore as compensation. The court had reserved its order on February 23 before delivering the verdict quashing his detention. (Agencies)
