Petition filed in Bihar court against Mehbooba, Omar among others

A complaint was registered before a court here on Tuesday against a Bihar minister and several political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir for giving statements opposing the move of the BJP-led central government on abrogation of the provisions Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir.

The petition was filed by lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha before the chief judicial magistrate's court.

The petitioner has named Shyam Rajak, a senior JD(U) leader and a member of the Nitish Kumar cabinet in Bihar, former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti among others in his petition.

Ojha has also named former attorney general Soli Sorabjee, besides two MPs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Mufti as respondents in his petition.

He has alleged that the respondents opposed the Centre's move at the behest of foreign powers and contended that they should be booked for treason.

Ojha has invoked sections 124(A) (sedition) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in his petition, which has been posted for hearing on August 17.

Rajak had said abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir might be part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) election manifesto but not that of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

He had further said the Janata Dal (United) subscribed to the ideologies of its leaders such as Jayprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and George Fernandes, who had strongly favoured no tinkering with Article 370.