Jammu, April 28 -- The populace of Doda hit the streets after the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on Monday quashed the preventive detention of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Mehraj Malik under the Public Safety Act (PSA), holding that the order was legally unsustainable and based on "non-application of mind".

Once the decision was made public, the entire populace of Doda hit the streets and celebrated the court decision.

Setting aside the detention order issued by the Doda district magistrate against Malik on September 8 last year, Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani directed authorities to "release the petitioner/detenu forthwith from his preventive detention".

Reacting to the verdict, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and CPI(M) lead...