Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has condemned the detention of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, calling it illegal and damaging to democratic values. Singh, along with other AAP leaders, had arrived in Srinagar to protest the arrest of party MLA from Doda, Mehraj Malik, who was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Police stopped Singh and his colleagues from leaving the Circuit House on Thursday, preventing their protest march. Abdullah argued that no formal detention order was served to Singh and described the action as an aggravation of an already wrongful use of the PSA against Malik.
He said if authorities had issues with Malik’s conduct, they should have addressed it through the Assembly Secretariat or the Speaker, instead of invoking the PSA. Abdullah stressed that the law is unique to Jammu and Kashmir and advised AAP to hire local legal experts experienced in PSA cases. He recalled his own legal battle against the PSA in 2020, noting the importance of local expertise.
Abdullah also met Malik’s father and assured him of support. He criticized the media for presenting Singh’s detention as a “claim” rather than reporting it as fact. Referring to his own experiences of detention and manhandling in past years, Abdullah said the treatment of opposition leaders exposes the reality behind official claims of normalcy in the region.
