Shiromani Akali Dal (A) president Simranjit Singh Mann spent the night at Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir bordering Punjab, after being denied entry into the union territory, officials said. Mann, an MP from Sangrur in Punjab, was stopped on the orders of Kathua District Magistrate Rahul Pandey, which was opposed by the politician and his supporters. Pandey, in his order issued under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), said that it was brought to his notice by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) that Mann was about to enter Jammu and Kashmir and that his visit was likely to be “public”. To create disturbance in peace”.
“Therefore, I restrain Mann from entering the jurisdiction of Kathua in exercise of the powers vested in me under Section 144 CrPC,” Pandey said in his order. However, Mann refused to return and spent the night in Lakhanpur despite both Pandey and SSP Ramesh Kotwal meeting him around midnight and requesting to return.
Mann asked him the specific reason why he was denied entry into Jammu and Kashmir, a source said, adding that the politician also threatened to violate prohibitory orders and asked the authorities to arrest him. Criticizing the Kathua administration’s decision to deny him entry, Mann had earlier said, “I am a Sikh and hence BJP and RSS did not allow me to enter Jammu and Kashmir.”
“There is no legislature in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under military rule. There is no democracy. I myself have come to meet the people of Kashmir to see what is happening (after the abrogation of Article 370). I want to expose the real picture to the outside world,” he had told reporters.
The administration has beefed up security in Lakhanpur after receiving information that Mann supporters from Punjab and Kathua were planning to attend their protest site. Officials said additional deployment has been made as a precautionary measure to enforce prohibitory orders and maintain law and order.
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