The Jammu and Kashmir police have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leaders and workers, including former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija Mufti, for taking out a rally on August 4 and August 5 in Srinagar to mark the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370. According to the FIR, the police had requested the PDP workers not to assemble on the main road, but they allegedly turned aggressive and resulted in injuries to several police officials. The FIR also mentioned that the PDP workers criminally used force against the police party, obstructed them in the discharge of their official duties, and resorted to pushing and manhandling.
Iltija Mufti has been booked under Section 132 (assaults on a public servant), 121 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 191 (2) (political rallies and mob violence). Iltija Mufti, however, denied the allegations and said that the FIR was an attempt to intimidate the PDP to normalize the abrogation of Article 370. She claimed that the police permission was a pretext to clamp down on the party’s peaceful protest and that the police had erased the CCTV footage from nearby shops to hide their actions.
The PDP has condemned the FIR as a blatant misuse of power and authority and accused the police of using excessive force while preventing their peaceful protest. The party has also demanded action against the police personnel involved in allegedly manhandling Iltija Mufti during the protest.
