PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti released after 14 months, calls August 5, 2019 a 'black day'

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday released former chief minister of J&K and People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, more than 14 months after she was detained on August 5, 2019.

Her daughter, Iltija Mufti, who was also handling her twitter account during the detention, expressed gratitude to people for their support.

“As Ms Mufti’s illegal detention finally comes to an end, Id like to thank everybody who supported me in these tough times. I owe a debt of gratitude to you all. This is Iltija signing off. May Allah protect you,” Iltija tweeted.


The release of Mufti was ordered two days before hearing of the petition challenging her detention in the Supreme Court. Mufti is among the last batch of politicians to be released from the detention. Two other former chief ministers, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, were released in March this year.

The government release order, mentioned that the in exercise of powers conferred under Section 19(1) of the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978, the government hereby revokes the detention order issued on February 2, 2020 and extended for three months period on July 31 this year with immediate effect.

Earlier, Iltija Mufti had approached the SC challenging the detention of her mother . The court had asked the J&K administration and central government to file a response to the petition. The next hearing of the petition was on October 15.

The National Conference leader, Omar Abdullah welcomed the release of Mufti saying that her continued detention was a travesty.