JAMMU, Sept. 9 -- The lone Aam Aadmi Party MLA in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehraj Malik, was on Monday detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) for allegedly disturbing public order in Doda district.

This is for the first time that a sitting MLA has been taken into custody under the PSA, a specific, preventive detention law applicable to J&K allowing detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases. The move drew condemnation from several political parties, including AAP which asserted that "the action will not deter its legislator from speaking for the rights of people."

The J&K assembly secretariat released an official intimation received from Doda deputy commissioner Harvinder Singh regarding the invoking of ...