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

He is the first sitting legislator in the Union Territory to be held under the law.

The Public Safety Act is a preventive detention law that 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” in the Union Territory.

Malik, who was sent to Bhaderwah jail, has been named in 18 first information reports and 16 daily diary reports at police stations in Doda district, The Indian Express quoted unidentified officials as saying.

They alleged that he had disrupted public order when the administration was engaged in relief work after heavy rains and flash floods in Jammu and Kashmir.

Malik has been accused of attacking officials on duty, locking them in their offices and abusing and intimidating them in public, according to The Indian Express. He is also facing charges of abduction.

The case under the Public Safety Act will not affect Malik’s membership of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, since he has not been convicted in any of the cases.

Malik was elected from Doda in the 2024 Assembly elections, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Gajay Singh by 4,538 votes, securing the AAP its first entry into the J&K legislature. He had earlier won a seat in the Doda District Development Council from Kahara in the 2020 elections, from which he resigned after becoming an MLA.

His detention drew criticism from political leaders.

People’s Democratic Party MLA Waheed Para urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to intervene.

“Assembly secretariat endorsing PSA [Public Safety Act] against an elected MLA is a direct assault on democracy,” Para said in a social media post. “Abdullah must act, don’t allow the institution of MLA, the last agency of the people, to be silenced. Today it’s Mehraj, tomorrow it could be you.”

Sajjad Shaheen, J&K National Conference MLA, described Malik’s detention as an “affront to democratic mandate of the people”.

“Such actions not only weaken institutions but also erode public faith in democracy,” Shaheen said in a social media post.

Former mayor of Srinagar Junaid Azim Mattu said that using the Public Safety Act against an elected representative is a “red flag”.

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