The lone Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Doda, Mehraj Malik, walked out of jail on Tuesday after his PSA detention was quashed by the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. Malik said that since he is out of jail now, he would continue to raise public issues.
Quashing his detention order issued by the Doda District Magistrate against Malik on September 8 last year, Justice Mohd Yousuf Wani directed authorities to “release the petitioner-detenu forthwith from his preventive detention”.
“Mehraj Malik was released by jail authorities after completing all formalities,” his lawyer and AAP spokesperson Appu Singh Slathia informed reporters here.
Hundreds of supporters of Malik gathered to greet him after the gates of the Kathua jail opened this morning.
It is pertinent to mention that Malik is an immensely popular political figure in Jammu and Kashmir who is praised for his outspoken and unapologetic stance.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, he said, “I am now out of jail. I thank the judiciary for delivering justice to me. I will continue to raise the issues and talk about the people.”
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Monday quashed Malik’s preventive detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA), holding that the order was legally unsustainable and based on “non-application of mind”.
On September 24, he had filed a habeas corpus petition in the high court, challenging his detention and seeking Rs 5 crore as compensation. The high court had reserved its order on February 28.
In his 87-page-long judgement, the judge said, “The impugned detention order issued by the District Magistrate, Doda, is quashed with direction to the respondents to release the petitioner/detenu forthwith from his preventive detention in the instant case.”
The court said the material on record did not justify invoking preventive detention and noted the distinction between ‘law and order’ and ‘public order’.
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