Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti charged under Public Safety Act: Reports

The Public Safety Act is a stringent law that allows detention without trial for up to three months.

Requesting anonymity, a senior police officer told NDTV that a District Magistrate has signed detention warrants against Abdullah and Mufti.

Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija also confirmed the order to NDTV.

Omar's father, Farooq Abdullah was charged under the same law last September and has been under house arrest since August as well.

Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti will be kept at the same place where they are currently under detention.

Besides, the two former CMs, two more leaders - Ali Mohammad Sagar of the National Conference (NC) and Sartaj Madhvi of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) - have also been booked under the PSA, said reports.

Omar Abdullah, his father Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are kept under house arrest since the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year.

Several other politicians from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir were also arrested during that time.

Formally known as the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, the law was introduced by Farooq Abdullah's father, former Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah, to punish the timber smugglers.

Ironically Farooq Abdullah is one of the first mainstream politicians, an MP and a three-time former CM, against whom the stringent law has been used.

The PSA, often described as a "draconian law", gives the government power to detain individuals whose actions are seen as "instigating, provoking or disturbing, or is likely to disturb, public order".