High time Mehbooba Mufti is released from detention: Rahul Gandhi to Centre

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (August 1) once again pitched for release of of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti who has been under home detention in Jammu and Kashmir since almost a year now under the Public Safety Act (PSA). 

The former party president also accused the central government of undermining democracy by extending the detention of the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister. 

"India's democracy is damaged when GOI illegally detains political leaders. It's high time Mehbooba Mufti is released," the Congress leader tweeted.

Earlier on Saturday, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that the extension of the detention of Mufti under the PSA is an abuse of law and an assault on the Constitutional rights guaranteed to every citizen.

This is the second time Mufti's detention has been extended. On July 31, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities extended Mehbooba Mufti's detention under the PSA by three months even as it released People's Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone in Srinagar. Prior to this, on May 5, her detention was extended was three months. 

Under the PSA, a person can be kept under detention for almost 2 years. 

Mufti along with 20 other leaders of Jammu and Kashmir continue to remain under detention since August 4, a day before the Centre abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories.