Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh on Thursday alleged that he and other party leaders were stopped from leaving the government guest house in Srinagar and protesting against the detention of MLA Mehraj Malik.

Malik, party’s lone MLA in Jammu and Kashmir, was detained on Monday under the Public Safety Act for one year on charges of disturbing public order.

The Doda legislator was sent to the Kathua district jail, making him the first sitting MLA in the Union Territory to be held under the preventive detention law, which allows persons to be taken into custody to prevent them from acting against “the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order”.

On Thursday, around 11 am, Singh and his colleagues assembled at Circuit House in Srinagar to hold a press conference and stage a demonstration, The Hindu reported.

The police allegedly prevented them from stepping out of the premises by locking the gates, the newspaper reported.

“The police have set up a cordon,” The Hindu quoted Singh as saying. No reason is furnished as to why we have been stopped. Is holding a protest or a press conference a crime? The extent of dictatorship is that even a Rajya Sabha MP is not being informed why he is being stopped.”

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticised the Union government for the alleged action.

“It is said that everything is fine in Jammu and Kashmir and a new J&K is emerging but the reality is that they always adopt a stringent stance against us,” said Abdullah.

He added that such actions were not good for democracy.

His father and party president, Farooq Abdullah, was also stopped from meeting Singh on Thursday.

A video posted by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal showed Singh trying to scale the gate of the government guest house to hold a conversation with Farooq Abdullah.

Malik’s detention has triggered a series of protests in Jammu and Kashmir.

Almost all parties in Jammu and Kashmir, except the Bharatiya Janata Party, have criticised his detention.

On Wednesday, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti had urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to ensure Malik’s release.

Protests had erupted in Doda a day earlier, prompting the administration to impose prohibitory orders banning the assembly of more than four people.

Internet and mobile services have also been suspended in the district.

At least eight police personnel, including two officers, were injured in clashes between protesters and security forces on Tuesday.

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