Bail granted to three Kashmiri students arrested for celebrating Pakistan’s cricket victory
The students of an engineering college in Agra were in jail for five months since being arrested in October on the basis of a complaint filed by a BJP member.
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday granted bail to three Kashmiri students who had been arrested in October in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district for celebrating Pakistan’s victory against India in a cricket match.
Three days after Pakistan beat India in a T20 World Cup match on October 24, Arsheed Yusuf, Inayat Altaf Sheikh and Showkat Ahmed Ganai were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by a Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing leader.
The three Kashmiri students were beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme, meant for students from economically weaker sections in Jammu and Kashmir. They were pursuing a course in civil engineering at Agra’s Raja Balwant Singh Engineering Technical College.
A day after the match, the college authorities had suspended them for posting “objectionable content” as their status on WhatsApp.
Members of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha, as well as other Hindutva groups, also accused the Kashmiri students of chanting “anti-national” slogans. In protests held at the college campus, they demanded stricter action against the students.
The Agra police had booked the students under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc) and 505 (1)(B) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) of the Indian Penal Code. They had also been booked for “cyber terrorism” under Section 66F of the Information Technology Act.
Several lawyers’ associations told their members not to represent the students. Members of the BJP’s youth wing and some lawyers heckled them when they were presented at a local court in Agra for the first time on October 28.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked seven people across five districts on similar charges. Chief Minister Adityanath has directed the police to file sedition cases against those who celebrated Pakistan’s victory.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police have also booked students and staff members at two medical colleges in Srinagar for celebrating Pakistan’s victory. An operation theatre technician at a medical college in the Union Territory’s Rajouri district had also been terminated from service for posting a WhatsApp status hailing Pakistan’s win.