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This is an archive article published on May 30, 2024

How dare you pontificate Model Code of Conduct to us: Iltija Mufti lashes out after mother Mehbooba is booked

PDP chief faces FIR for allegedly violating the poll code, police said Wednesday

PDP chief Mehbooba MuftiPDP chief Mehbooba Mufti

Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has been booked for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), police said Wednesday, even as the party termed the FIR registered against her as “intimidation”.

The PDP leader has been booked under IPC charges of rioting, wrongful restraint and contempt of lawful authority of public servants. The FIR was registered against her at Bijbehara police station on the recommendation of the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) based on the protest staged by Mufti and her party workers last week.

Earlier on Saturday when the polls were underway for Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat, Mufti along with the PDP workers had staged a sit-in protest near Bijbehara police station over the alleged detention of the party’s polling agents and workers, hours before the start of elections.

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The FIR was registered against Mufti under IPC Sections 147 (rioting), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) and 341 (wrongful restraint) and provisions of the Representation of the Peoples Act after the police received a letter from the Bijbehara ARO.

The FIR quoting the ARO’s letter said: “…It is to bring to your notice that today on 25/05/2024 a huge number of PDP workers lead by Madam Mehbooba Mufti assembled in Bijbehara town and raised slogans for releasing the PDP workers which amounted to the gross violation of MCC. The huge group of PDP workers also blocked the main road and staged a protest at main spot Bijbehara for more than one hour which amounts to violations of Section 144 of CrPC which is imposed in the parliamentary 3- Anantnag Rajouri Constituency….”

“As per Section 144 CrPC gathering of four persons is restricted during the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) up to 4 June. Hence in violation of the above order, it is requested that necessary action may be initiated under rules against …Mufti along with her workers,” said the FIR.

Reacting to the FIR, Mufti’s daughter and media advisor Iltija Mufti during a hurriedly-convened press conference said: “We live in a democracy. If a former CM is hitting the streets on the day of polling and she is asking why you arrested my workers, my polling agents, is she anti-national? Is this sedition that you register FIR against her.”

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“How dare you pontificate Model Code of Conduct to us, what you have been doing? Twelve hours before voting, you pick our workers, intimidate our voters, is that not a violation of the Model Code of Conduct” she said. “She won’t get intimidated by it. We are not going to take it lying down. Our president knows the cost of speaking the truth… In Jammu and Kashmir, you pay a price… we have been paying the price since 2019 and we will keep paying it,” she said.

“Our workers.. I want to thank them, assure them that we will not bow before them. We are here to speak the truth, we have always supported the truth and we will keep doing it”.

Bashaarat Masood is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express. He has been covering Jammu and Kashmir, especially the conflict-ridden Kashmir valley, for two decades. Bashaarat joined The Indian Express after completing his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University in Kashmir. He has been writing on politics, conflict and development. Bashaarat was awarded with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2012 for his stories on the Pathribal fake encounter. ... Read More

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