'House locked, not allowed to meet anyone': Omar Abdullah shares video claiming 'house arrest'

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Monday said that he wanted to give a reaction on Supreme Court’s verdict on the abrogation of Article 370 but he failed to do so as the main gate of his house has been locked and he is not allowed to meet anyone.

In a video posted on X, Abdullah can be seen filming the gate of his house which is locked from outside.

#WATCH | Srinagar, J&K: On SC verdict on Article 370, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah says, “I am speaking to all of you like this as my house has been locked and I am not allowed to meet anyone. I wanted to give my reaction to the media on what happened in Supreme Court… pic.twitter.com/kJPqjTJA34

— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2023

“I am speaking to all of you like this as my house has been locked and I am not allowed to meet anyone. I wanted to give my reaction to the media on what happened in Supreme Court today, but the media is not allowed to come to my house and I am not allowed to step out from here…,” he says in the video.

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the government’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and said steps should be taken to conduct elections in the Assembly by September 30 next year.

The apex court also directed that statehood to the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir be restored at the earliest.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the police had rubbished claims by Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti that they had been put under house arrest ahead of the Supreme Court’s verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that conferred a special status on Jammu and Kashmir.

“Even before the Supreme Court judgement is pronounced, police have sealed the doors of the residence of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and put her under illegal house arrest,” the PDP said in a post on X.

The party claimed the PDP officer near Sher-e-Kashmir Park was also sealed by the police.

A National Conference (NC) leader said the main gate of the party president Farooq Abdullah and Vice President Omar Abdullah’s residence was locked by the police in the morning.

“Omar Abdullah has been locked up in his house. Democracy?” NC’s additional state spokesperson Sara Hayat Shah said in a post on X.

She also posted pictures of the locked gate of the Abdullah residence on the microblogging platform.

Police did not allow journalists to gather near the residence at Gupkar, officials said.

A posse of police personnel was deployed at the entry point of Gupkar Road and journalists were not allowed anywhere near the residence of the NC leaders.

Omar Abdullah lives with his father after he vacated his official residence in October 2020.

While Farooq Abdullah, who is a Member of Parliament from Srinagar, is in Delhi for the ongoing Parliament session, his son is in the Valley.

With inputs from agencies