On October 4, former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and President of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) Mehbooba Mufti claimed that she is under house arrest. Mehbooba claimed that she was put under house arrest after she expressed her desire to attend a worker’s wedding in Pattan.
In a tweet, she shared a photograph of a locked gate and said, “While HM is going around Kashmir beating drums of normalcy, I am under house arrest for simply wanting to visit Pattan for a worker’s wedding. If an ex-CM’s fundamental rights can be suspended so easily, one can’t even imagine the plight of a commoner.”
However, soon after her tweet, Srinagar police categorically denied her claims. Quoting her tweet, Srinagar police said, “It is clarified that no restriction of any kind travel to pattan, travel to Pattan was at 1 pm as intimated to us. The picture tweeted by her is of the inside of the gate with its own lock of residents who stay in the bungalow. There is no lock or any restrictions. She is free to travel.”
It is clarified that no restriction of any kind travel to pattan, travel to pattan was at 1 pm as intimated to us. The picture tweeted by her is of inside of the gate with own lock of residents who stay in the bunglow. There is no lock or any restrictions. She is free to travel. https://t.co/YMccUwDSh4 pic.twitter.com/kG5Luhj7Bm
— Srinagar Police (@SrinagarPolice) October 5, 2022
When Mehbooba realised that she was caught red-handed by the police, she made a rather bizarre claim that the police locked the gates from inside. Quoting Srinagar police, she said, “I was informed last night by SP Baramulla Rayees Mohammad Bhat that I wouldn’t be allowed to travel to Pattan. Today Jammu and Kashmir police have themselves locked my gates from inside & are now lying through their teeth. Sad that law enforcement agencies are brazenly trying to cover up their tracks.”
Srinagar police further refuted her claims. They quoted Mehbooba and said that there were certain security-related inputs, and those were conveyed to her. In the tweet, Srinagar police said, “Again reiterating you are free to go, madam, official message has already been sent in this regard from PCR Kashmir. There were certain security-related inputs that were conveyed to you before planning the visit as is routine. If you still don’t want to visit, we can’t help it, madam.”
Again reiterating you are free to go madam, official message has already been sent in this regards from PCR kashmir. There were certain security related inputs that were conveyed to you before planning visit as is routine. If you still don’t want to visit, we can’t help it madam. https://t.co/gAKAmVVGHO
— Srinagar Police (@SrinagarPolice) October 5, 2022
Mehbooba Mufti’s history of baseless claims
This is not the first time ex-CM Mehbooba Mufti made allegedly baseless claims. In November 2020, she took to Twitter to claim that she had been ‘illegally’ detained for over two days. She had also claimed that the Jammu and Kashmir police had stopped her from visiting the Youth President of PDP, Waheed Ur Rehman. While crying foul over the alleged house arrest, Mehbooba Mufti stated that the BJP was indiscriminately detaining her from allowing others to move about freely.
In September 2022, Mehbooba claimed that Muslim students were forced to sing bhajans in schools. She posted a video on her Twitter handle in which school children in Kulgam were seen singing the bhajan ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’. Claiming that Muslim students in schools in Kashmir were being forced to sing Hindu bhajans, Mufti rebuked the central government for imposing their ‘Hindutva agenda’.
