J&K High Court Sets November 20 for Final Hearing on AAP MLA Mehraj Malik’s PSA Detention Case
AAP Legal Team Seeks Urgent Justice, Says Malik’s Constituency Suffering Due to Prolonged Detention
- Habeas Corpus Plea of Detained AAP Leader Mehraj Malik to be Finally Heard by J&K HC
Jammu, November 7: The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has scheduled the final hearing of a plea filed by detained Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Mehraj Malik for November 20. The decision came after the court took up the matter on Friday, during which strong objections were raised by Malik’s legal team regarding the government’s delay in filing its response.
Malik, who also serves as the president of the AAP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, has been in detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) since September 8. The administration alleged that his activities were prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. He was subsequently lodged in the Kathua jail. On September 24, Malik filed a habeas corpus petition before the High Court, challenging the legality of his detention and seeking Rs 5 crore in compensation for what he termed as unlawful incarceration.
According to AAP spokesperson Appu Singh Slathia, who is also part of Malik’s legal counsel, the case was listed before Justice Rajneesh Oswal of the Jammu bench of the High Court. During the hearing, Malik’s lawyers, led by senior advocate Rahul Pant along with advocates S S Ahmed, M Tariq Mughal, M Zulkarnain Chowdhary, and Slathia herself, argued that despite several weeks passing, the government had failed to file its reply on time. They emphasized that due to this negligence, an elected MLA continues to remain behind bars while his constituency is left without active representation.
Representing the government, Senior Additional Advocate General Monika Kohli and senior counsel Sunil Sethi informed the court that a reply had been filed on Thursday. However, they acknowledged that due to a technical defect in the accompanying affidavit, the reply had not yet been officially recorded. During the proceedings, the government’s counsel handed over copies of the reply to the petitioner’s legal team in open court.
Slathia further informed that the court directed the registry to officially place the government’s reply on record and instructed the state counsel to ensure all relevant documents are available during the next hearing. The bench has now fixed November 20 for final consideration of the petition.
