Article 35A: Activist wants case against Mehbooba for 'tricolor flag' remarks

A Jammu-based activist said Monday that he has filed a complaint with the district magistrate, seeking registration of a case against former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti for her reported remarks on the national tricolour. In his complaint, activist Sukesh C Khajuria alleged that Mehbooba's statement, made at a press conference, was "seditious" and an "incitement to violence or public disorder".

There was, however, no official confirmation from the district magistrate's office. At the press conference to defend Article 35A of the Constitution in Srinagar on February 25, Mehbooba warned that any tampering with Jammu and Kashmir's special status would "undermine and nullify" the state's accession to the Union, saying the consequences of such a decision would be something the country had not witnessed since 1947.

"If there is an attack (on Article 35A), then I do not know which flag, other than the tricolour, would the people of Kashmir bear in hand. And if they do so, then do not tell us that we had not warned you (Centre). Do not push the people of JK to the wall," she had said.