The Jammu and Kashmir Police has booked the Union Territory’s lone Aam Aadmi Social gathering legislator after a lady physician accused him of prison intimidation and gendered abuse.
Doda’s 36-year-old MLA Mehraj Malik was booked Friday on the again of a criticism by Dr Madhu Chib, an affiliate professor and head of the gynaecology and obstetrics on the Authorities Medical Faculty and Hospital in Doda, Jammu.
He has been booked below sections 356 (prison intimidation), 79 (phrase, gesture or act meant to insult modesty of a lady, 351 (Intentional insult with intent to impress breach of peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Considerably, Malik has been essential of the functioning of hospitals in Doda, even elevating this within the J&Ok Meeting.
In her criticism, the physician accuses Malik of utilizing social media platforms to publicly challenge threats and degree “abusive, gendered and derogatory remarks” in opposition to her, quoting him once in a while utilizing phrases similar to “gasheetonga (I’ll drag you)” and “nanga kardunga (I’ll strip you bare)” saying these had been “not mere phrases, these are direct threats to my dignity, security {and professional} integrity as a feminine physician serving in a authorities hospital”.
“These phrases clearly outrage the modesty of a feminine public servant that too on social media,” she says in her criticism, asking the police to additionally take cognisance of his “steadily use” of phrases similar to “chor, dalae, haramkhor and qatil” in his stay movies on social media.
“What’s much more painful is his taunt that this hospital doesn’t belong to your father,” she mentioned, saying his assertion “not solely displays vanity but in addition excessive insensitivity contemplating the truth that her father handed away over 12 years in the past”.
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As well as, Malik’s conduct throughout his visits to the hospital had been “erratic, threatening and utterly unbecoming of an elected consultant”, the complainant mentioned, occurring to say that accompanied by his associates and with stay social media feeds working, he would “unauthorizedly entered the labour room – a delicate and restricted space”.
“It is a gross violation of affected person privateness, particularly for feminine sufferers in weak circumstances,” the complainant mentioned, saying Malik’s “repeated actions are deeply distressing for each the workers and the sufferers and pose a direct risk to our hospital’s safety and moral setting”.
Mehraj Malik couldn’t be contacted for his feedback regardless of repeated makes an attempt as he had switched off his cell phone.
This isn’t the primary time Malik’s title has figured in an FIR. In his affidavit to the Election Fee of India on the time of 2024 meeting election, Malik mentioned he had half a dozen FIRs registered in opposition to him for offences that ranged from prison intimidation and home trespass to selling enmity between completely different teams. All these instances had been registered in opposition to him at Gandoh police station between 2021 and 24.
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Mehraj Malik, a postgraduate from Jammu College and a first-time MLA, defeated the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering’s Gajay Singh Rana from Doda by 4,538 votes – giving AAP its maiden victory within the union territory of J&Ok. Nevertheless it wasn’t Malik’s electoral debut, having unsuccessfully fought the 2020 District Growth Council election from Doda’s Kahara constituency as an unbiased candidate and the 2024 Lok Sabha election as an unbiased from Udhampur parliamentary constituency.
Locals who know Malik say that the rows he has been concerned in through the years has performed a key position in his rise in politics — first as a member of the Doda’s District Growth Council from Kahara through the maiden DDC elections held in Jammu and Kashmir throughout 2020 and later as an MLA from Doda in 2024.
Malik joined AAP in 2013 – a yr after he completed his submit commencement – and shortly drew consideration by flagging native issues similar to lack of consuming water and electrical energy to medical amenities and poor training infrastructure. He was appointed co-chairman of the AAP’s state coordination committee in 2022.
He additionally gained some assist within the aftermath of the 2019 Abrogation of Article 370, when he took to the streets with native points. Final yr, he spearheaded a protest in opposition to the eviction drive in Jammu’s Bathindi. Though he was detained, he was finally launched.
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He as soon as once more made information through the Funds Session of the Meeting final month – first for having been allegedly being overwhelmed up over his remarks in opposition to former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Social gathering (PDP) chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and later for taking up the BJP for allegedly “remaining silent” over the rising variety of liquor outlets in J&Ok below the Centre’s rule within the final 10 years.