Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police have invoked the Official Secrets Act in its “verification report” on Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti, who was issued a “conditional” passport earlier this week following the court’s intervention.
In its response to a petition filed by Iltija in the J&K high court, the Regional Passport Officer in Srinagar said that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of J&K Police “does not favour issuance of passport” to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief’s daughter.
The CID has filed its report as a ‘top secret”, which means it will not be revealed publicly under the provisions of the Official Secrets Act, a colonial-era law which has been used by governments to maintain secrecy in matters of national security and espionage.
“Given the circumstance especially that the applicant seeks to pursue higher studies (Masters) in UAE, this office issued passport No ….. on 05/04/2023 valid up-to 04/04/2025,” Davinder Kumar, passport officer, Srinagar, wrote to the deputy solicitor general (GoI), J&K and Ladakh high court, while referring to the sealed cover report of CID.
Last month, the practice of presenting “sealed cover” reports in the court earned the ire of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who sought an end to the “sealed cover business” while hearing the One Rank One Petition case.
Speaking with reporters in Srinagar on Friday, April 7, Iltija said that she had applied for a passport in June last year, following which she approached the high court where the case is being heard for the last two months.
Iltija, who ventured into active politics following the reading down of Article 370, alleged that she and her family were being targeted for speaking out against the policies of the BJP-led Union government. Her grandmother – Mehbooba’s mother Gulshan Mufti – was also denied a passport for three years but she managed to get one earlier this year following the court’s intervention.
“Am I a terrorist? Am I an anti-national? If I speak out against the Union government, does it mean that I am attacking the country? Expressing myself is my fundamental right as an Indian citizen. I have not broken any law, yet I am being targeted. I am not entitled to a passport because Mehbooba Mufti sahiba is my mother. I am entitled to a passport because I am a law-abiding Indian citizen,” she said.
Iltija said that the passport issued to her by the regional passport officer on April 5 was “for UAE only” with a two-year validity, even though an ordinary passport has 10-year validity. The PDP chief’s daughter also questioned the CID’s sealed cover report. “The police are trying to mislead the court because there is nothing substantial against me in it. If they are confident, the report should be made public,” she said.
