‘Daddy’s girl’ allusion was not ground for Mehbooba’s detention
SRINAGAR: The police’s description of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti as “daddy’s girl” is not among the grounds for her detention under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), according to official records.
The seven-page order served on the 60-year-old PDP chief, the daughter of party founder and former chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, has stated 12 grounds for her detention under the ‘public order’ segment of the PSA that was invoked against her on February 6.
Senior officials in the J&K administration involved in the decision-making process explained that the police dossier is submitted to the district magistrate who, in his/her wisdom, decides the grounds for detaining any person.
In its dossier, the police recommended Mufti’s detention for her “dangerous and insidious mechanisation and usurping profile and nature by the masses as ‘daddy’s girl’ and ‘Kota Rani’” based on the profile of a medieval queen who rose to power by virtue of undertaking intrigues ranging from poisoning of her opponents to ponyardings.
However, the district magistrate, who is the executive officer, did not include this as a reason in the detention order against her under the PSA, the officials said.
The officials said the police dossier submitted to the district magistrate only helps in identifying the grounds for detention, and that the expressions such as “daddy’s girl” and “Kota Rani” had not been used at all in the grounds for detention order served to the former chief minister on February 6. The officials said that though the police dossier had used such adjectives against Mufti, but the same were never used in the final PSA order and grounds for her detention.