J&K Police file FIR over PDP’s Article 370 anniversary rally, party says ‘blatant misuse of power, authority’

The J&K police on Thursday (August 6, 2026) lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leaders and workers, two days after the party took out multiple street protests over the abrogation of Article 370 in Srinagar. The PDP termed the FIR against the party leaders as “a blatant misuse of power and authority”.

The name of former J&K Chief Minister Mufti has been mentioned in the FIR for taking out a rally on August 4 and August 5 in the city, on the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, “without prior police permission”, a senior PDP leader said, on the condition of anonymity.

The FIR also mentioned the name of Ms. Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, who led a late-evening street protest in Lal Chowk on August 4 and was stopped by the police. The FIR against Ms. Iltija Mufti is lodged under Section 132 (assaults on a public servant), 121 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 191 (2) (political rallies and mob violence).

Officials said a police party visited the residence of Ms. Mufti in Khimber in Srinagar, pertaining to the case on Thursday (August 6, 2026) evening.

According to the FIR, the workers of the PDP, led by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Iltija Mufti, started moving towards the main road (on August 4). “Police personnel requested them not to assemble on the main road, as such a gathering could disrupt the smooth movement of traffic. The request was not well received by the workers of the PDP. Instead, they turned aggressive and attacked the police party,” said the FIR.

It said the PDP workers criminally used force against the police party, “obstructed them in the discharge of their official duties, and also resorted to pushing and manhandling”. “As a result, several police officials sustained injuries,” it added.

Ms. Iltija Mufti said the FIR was “an attempt to intimidate the PDP to normalise abrogation of Article 370 like the National Conference (NC)”. “No rioting broke out at the site. We wanted to march to the city centre and peacefully organise a sit-in over abrogation of Article 370. A police officer Neha Jain dragged me and manhandled me in spite of being a woman herself. She goaded other police personnel to manhandle me,” Ms. Iltija.

She said the police permission was a pretext to clamp down. “It’s unfortunate IPS officers from outside are imposed on people of J&K. Mere displaying placards with Article 370 on it is being treated as sedition. There is no freedom of expression. I have been protesting since 2019, but have never come across such a police officer or policing,” said Ms. Iltija. 

She accused the police of erasing the CCTV footage from the shops nearby. “If the police have nothing to hide, why was CCTV footage erased from nearby shops? The police should make the entire CCTV footage public,” she added. 

Meanwhile, a PDP spokesman said the FIR by the police against Ms. Mufti and Ms, Iltija Mufti on Article 370 “was a blatant misuse of power and authority”.

“The woman police officer assaulted the PDP leader and used excessive force while preventing her peaceful protest. We have eyewitnesses to the incident and intend to place the matter before a court of law,” said the PDP.

The party said such actions by responsible police officers are “illegal, disproportionate, and wholly uncalled for”.

“We strongly condemn the conduct of the police personnel involved and demand appropriate action against those responsible for allegedly manhandling a political leader during a peaceful protest,” the PDP said.