J&K journalist Majid Hyderi booked under PSA

Journalist and political commentator Majid Hyderi who was arrested last week by Jammu and Kashmir Police on charges of criminal conspiracy and extortion has been booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), officials said on Monday.

Hyderi has been booked under the PSA and lodged at the Kot Balwal jail in Jammu region of the Union Territory, they said.

Hyderi, a resident of the city's Peerbagh area, was arrested late Thursday night after police lodged a case against him following orders from a court.

"FIR number 88/2023 under sections 120B, 177, 386 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Sadder police station on the basis of an order issued by the JMIC court in Srinagar," police said on X on Friday.

He was arrested allegedly for criminal conspiracy, intimidation, extortion, giving false information, defamation etc, police added.

The journalist and political commentator who was regular on television news channels got bail on Saturday, but was immediately rearrested in some other case.

Former J-K chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said Hyderi's PSA detention was deeply disturbing.

"Reports of #MajidHyderi's detention under PSA are deeply disturbing. If correct this is yet another instance of the current J&K administration proving how intolerant they are to any criticism.

"I don't think there is very much he & I would ever agree on being ideologically poles apart but this reported detention & shift to a jail in Jammu is cruel & unnecessary," Abdullah wrote in a post on X.

"If Majid Hyderi has said something someone else doesn't like then take recourse to the available defamation laws. He isn't a threat to public safety even if he does threaten a few reputations," the NC leader said.