Jammu, April 27 -- The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the preventive detention of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Mehraj Malik under the Public Safety Act (PSA), holding that the detention order suffered from "non-application of mind" and was legally unsustainable.

Justice Mohd Yousuf Wani set aside the detention issued by the Doda District Magistrate on September 8 last year and directed authorities to release the legislator forthwith.

Malik, who heads the J&K unit of the Aam Aadmi Party, had been detained in September for allegedly disturbing public order and was lodged in Kathua jail. He had challenged the order through a habeas corpus petition, which was reserved by the court in February.

In its 87-page judgment, the co...