Jammu and Kashmir Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mehraj Malik was detained on Monday under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) for allegedly disturbing public order in Doda district of Jammu division, officials said.
This is the first time a sitting MLA has been taken into custody under the PSA, the controversial law authorising preventive detention of individuals for up to two years without trial in some cases.
The officials said that earlier in the day, the 37-year-old AAP MLA was detained by police at Dak Bungalow while he was planning to visit flood-hit areas of his constituency.
They told the news agency PTI that he was later shifted to Bhaderwah district jail under the PSA on the orders of the Deputy Commissioner of Doda, Harvinder Singh, after police prepared a dossier against him.
Who is Mehraj Malik?
Mehraj Malik, a social worker from Jammu and Kashmir, was elected as a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) for the Doda Assembly constituency in October 2024. He is the Aam Aadmi Party’s first and only winning MLA candidate in Jammu and Kashmir.
On 17 October 2022, the Aam Aadmi Party appointed him as co-chairman of the J&K State Coordination Committee. On 21 March 2025, Malik was appointed as State President for Aam Aadmi Party in J&K.
Malik began his political career after joining the AAP in 2013. He ran as an independent candidate in the 2014 Assembly elections but lost. In 2020, he was elected to the Doda District Development Council as an independent candidate with a margin of 3511 votes in Kahara.
In the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir elections, Malik defeated his nearest rival from the BJP in Doda constituency by a margin of over 4,538 votes, registering his party’s first win in the Union territory.
Officials said Malik was named in 18 FIRs and 16 daily diary reports at different police stations in Doda district.
Malik is accused of attacking officials on duty, locking them inside their offices, and abusing and intimidating them in public, THE officials said. Malik is is also facing charges of abduction, the officials said.
PSA would not affect his membership in the J&K Legislative Assembly since he has not been convicted in any of the cases registered against him so far.
Last week, a video emerged purportedly showing Malik abusing the Doda Deputy Commissioner, Harvinder Singh, over the issue of shifting a health sub-centre.
While Malik alleged his recommendation in the matter was ignored, the DC claimed the MLA wanted the administration to allow the sub-centre to function in a building built by one of his supporters on state land and pay him monthly rent.
Earlier controversies
In April, Malik entered into a scuffle with some BJP and PDP members inside the J-K Assembly complex after the saffron party leaders objected to his alleged remarks that Hindus get drunk during festivals, while PDP legislators took strong exception to his statement on PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
However, Malik later claimed that his statement on Hindus was taken out of context.
The action against Malik, who has often courted controversies with his statements, comes amid a massive protest by government employees who came out in support of the deputy commissioner after Malik used a social media platform to launch a disparaging campaign against him.
The protesting employees accused the MLA of “habitually” hurling abuses at senior government officers, including doctors, and provoking youths against the official machinery.
In a statement, the protesting employees lauded the deputy commissioner for his “exceptional service, integrity and dedication to public welfare”, and said his compassionate approach has made him a “beacon of hope” for the residents of Doda in general and the flood-affected population in particular.
‘Abusive language and baseless allegation’
They condemned the use of “abusive language and baseless allegations” against the officer as “unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable” and slammed the “uncivilised and irresponsible” behaviour of the legislator.
The officials said dozens of cases and complaints are registered against Malik for his “uncultured” behaviour and fights with government officials in the hill district over the past one year.
Several other close associates of the AAP leader are also being detained under PSA, while additional deployment has been made in the sensitive areas to maintain law and order, they said.
Widely Condemned
Leaders across political parties have condemned Malik’s detention. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday slammed the detention, saying he was raising his voice for the rights of people in his constituency.
“Is demanding a hospital for the people of your area such a grave crime that an elected MLA has to be thrown in jail for it? Mehraj Malik is the lion of the Aam Aadmi Party,” Kejriwal said in a post on X in Hindi.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said there is no justification for detaining Mehraj Malik under the PSA. “He’s not a threat to ‘public safety, ‘ & using this discredited law to detain him is wrong. If the unelected government can use its powers against an elected representative like this then how does anyone expect the people of J&K to continue to have faith in democracy,” Abdullah said.
The opposition PDP and Peoples Conference condemned Malik’s detention under PSA, calling it an attempt to crush dissent and an assault on democracy.
During his detention at Dak Bungalow, Malik posted a video on his social media account in which he claimed that he was being stopped from meeting people of his constituency who have “suffered immensely” due to the recent flash floods and torrential rains.
The MLA accused the deputy commissioner of arranging protests by employees against him.
“There are many areas in my constituency which are without road connectivity, ration and without shelter after their homes were damaged but I am being detained here,” Malik said
Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia also lashed out at the Centre, describing Malik’s detention as “the open dictatorship of the Modi-Shah government which is seeped in hunger for power”.
In a post on X, he said those raising their voice for people’s rights were being treated as a threat, but “history is witness, whenever dictatorship increases, the revolution gains momentum .”
Before being shifted to jail, Malik uploaded a video claiming he was being prevented from meeting people affected by flash floods and torrential rains.
If the unelected government can use its powers against an elected representative like this then how does anyone expect the people of J&K to continue to have faith in democracy?
“There are many areas in my constituency which are without road connectivity, ration and shelter after their homes were damaged but I am being detained here,” he said.
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