The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has scheduled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Mehraj Malik’s habeas corpus petition for final consideration on November 20. Malik, who heads the AAP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, has been detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) since September 8 for allegedly disturbing public order and is currently lodged in Kathua jail.
According to AAP spokesperson Appu Singh Slathia, Malik’s petition came up before Justice Rajneesh Oswal at the Jammu wing of the High Court on Friday. The petition challenges Malik’s detention and also seeks Rs 5 crore in compensation.
Slathia, who is part of Malik’s legal team along with senior advocate Rahul Pant and advocates S S Ahmed, M Tariq Mughal, and M Zulkarnain Chowdhary, said the court was informed that the government had not filed its reply until the previous day. “We strongly submitted that due to this lackadaisical approach, an incumbent MLA continues to remain behind bars, depriving his constituency of representation,” Slathia said.
Senior Additional Advocate General Monika Kohli and senior counsel Sunil Sethi, appearing for the government, told the court that replies had been filed on Thursday but were not yet on record due to a defect in the affidavit. The copies of the government’s reply were served to the petitioner’s counsel in open court.
The court directed the registry to place the government’s replies on record and asked the state’s counsel to produce the relevant records at the next hearing. The matter has now been listed for final consideration on November 20.
