A senior separatist who participated in huge anti-India rallies in Kashmir has been charged under a tough law, sparking rioting by his supporters, police said Saturday.

Yasin Malik, 42, was arrested in the northern district of Sumbhal last month after he launched an anti-election campaign in the area.

`Today he (Malik) was charged under Public Safety Act and sent to a jail,` a police officer told AFP, requesting not to be named.

India last month decided to hold state elections in Kashmir in seven phases, starting November 17.

Malik has been charged with threatening India`s security under a legal act that could see him jailed without trial for two years. He is the sixth senior separatist to have been charged under the act since September.

Separatists and Muslim rebels oppose Indian-held elections arguing they strengthen New Delhi`s hold over the disputed scenic region.

In the past few months, Kashmir has witnessed the biggest pro-independence demonstrations since an insurgency erupted in 1989. The protests have been met by a tough crackdown by Indian security forces.

The recent protests were triggered by a row over a government donation of Kashmiri land to a Hindu pilgrimage trust and spiralled into anti-India demonstrations that left nearly 50 Muslim protesters dead.

Malik`s supporters poured on to the streets of summer capital Srinagar and enforced a shutdown in some areas as activists smashed car and bus windows, and pelted riot police with stones and bricks.

Police said nearly a dozen people were hurt, including some policemen.