Jailed AAP MLA Mehraj Malik To Seek High Court Nod To Attend Jammu Kashmir Assembly

By Amir Tantray

Jammu: As the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly session is all set to begin on October 23, the legal team of incarcerated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Doda, Mehraj Malik, is preparing an application to file in the High Court seeking approval for his participation in the session.

In a day or two, the legal team of Malik will apply to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, seeking a hearing.

Talking to ETV Bharat, personal assistant of the MLA, Amir Malik, said, “In a day or two, we are hopeful to apply to the High Court to seek a hearing for MLA Doda's permission to attend the Assembly session. If the application is accepted, then it will be carried forward; otherwise, during the October 14 hearing, we will be raising the issue in the High Court as well.”

The legal team of Malik has decided this after Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, on Friday, said that the court will have to allow Mehraj Malik for his participation in the upcoming Assembly session.

Malik's team is also taking a cue from Member of Parliament (MP) from Baramulla, Engineer Rashid, in the case of getting permission to attend the monsoon session of the Parliament.

"We will be attaching the Supreme Court's direction regarding Engineer Rashid and will be presenting our point," Amir Malik said.

MLA Doda was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) by Deputy Commissioner Doda on September 8, allegedly for violating the public order, and was sent to the district jail in Kathua.

After his arrest, his supporters protested in different areas of the Doda district, following which the administration imposed Section 163 of the BNSS and had to suspend the mobile calling facility in his native area of Bhallessa, and mobile internet and broadband services were suspended in the entire district.

Now, things are normal, but the PA of Malik has claimed that MLA's supporters are being harassed by the Doda police for posting any kind of stuff on social media.

"I am requesting police and administration stop torture against our people; whoever posts something in support of Mehraj SB is being called to the police station every day. This has become a daily routine in District Doda," he wrote on Mehraj Malik’s Facebook page.

Amir Malik told ETV Bharat, "I was called by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Doda Sandeep Mehta to his office, and he told me to refrain from posting anything on MLA Doda's official page. But whatever I am doing is as per the law, as I am not the first one to do this."

"I tried to avoid talking about this, but a person named Sher Muhammad Malik was also called by the police at the Gundoh police station and was kept there for several hours. His only fault was posting in favour of MLA Doda," he added.

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