Fact check: Mehbooba Mufti not under house arrest; Srinagar Police debunk ex-CM's claim [details]

Former Chief Minister and president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti said on Wednesday that while the Union Home Minister was visiting the Valley, authorities put her under house arrest. This was, however, refuted by the J&K Police, who said she was free to travel.

The claim

In a series of tweets, Mufti slammed the J&K Police for placing her under house arrest, preventing her from attending a marriage function of a worker in Pattan in north Kashmir. Sharing pictures to back her claims, she showed an alleged locked gate of her residence on Srinagar's Gupkar road. She claimed her "house arrest" is due to Home Minister's visit to north Kashmir's Baramulla, where he's addressing a public rally.

Her tweet triggered a reaction from the Srinagar Police, who then denied Mufti's claims. This led to a verbal spat on Twitter.

"While HM (Home Minister) is going around Kashmir beating drums of normalcy, I am under house arrest for simply wanting to visit Pattan for a worker's wedding. If an ex-CM's fundamental rights can be suspended so easily, one can't even imagine the plight of a commoner," Mufti said, in a tweet.

Mufti further slammed the J&K police and said that the gates to her official residence were locked from inside by the police and they were lying about it.

"I was informed last night by SP Baramulla that I wouldn't be allowed to travel to Pattan. Today the police have themselves locked my gates from inside and are now lying through their teeth. Sad that law enforcement agencies are brazenly trying to cover up their tracks," she said.

Fact check

International Business Times reviewed the claims made by PDP chief Mufti on Twitter about her "house arrest." Not long after her tweet, Srinagar Police responded on Twitter, denying claims of house arrest, noting that the ex-CM is free to travel and no restrictions have been placed.

"It is clarified that no restriction of any kind travel to pattan, travel to pattan was at 1 pm as intimated to us. The picture tweeted by her is of inside of the gate with own lock of residents who stay in the bunglow. There is no lock or any restrictions. She is free to travel," Srinagar Police said in a tweet.

To further debunk the claims made by Mufti, the police shared pictures of her residence gate, which showed no locks from the outside. The photos shared by Srinagar Police give a wider view of the gate, which clearly shows it's been taken from outside, whereas the photo tweeted by Mufti's handle only shows the gate without giving away whether it was taken from outside or inside. Only upon closer inspection and comparing the photos with those shared by Srinagar Police, it becomes clear that the photo was taken from inside the gate.

In response to our query on Mufti's claim, the Srinagar Police maintained that Mufti's claims are baseless and that no restrictions have been placed on her travel, let alone being put under house arrest.

Hence, IBTimes has arrived at the conclusion that the claim about Mufti's house arrest is unfounded.