The students were arrested for supporting Pakistan in the India-Pakistan T20 Match
Highlights
- The students were charged with promoting enmity on grounds of religion.
- While two of them are in third year, one of them is in his fourth.
- They may also face sedition charges, indicated a tweet from the UP CMO.
Three Kashmiri students were arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Agra yesterday for allegedly celebrating Pakistan's win over India in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Those celebrating Pakistan's win will be charged with sedition, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's office tweeted this morning.
All three are engineering students at the Raja Balwant Singh College in Agra. Arsheed Yousuf and Inayat Altaf Sheikh are in their third year of college, and Showkat Ahmed Ganai is in his fourth.
They have been charged with promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, and cyber-terrorism. They may also face sedition charges, indicated a tweet from the Chief Minister's office.
Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has criticised the crackdown on Kashmiri students both within and outside the state and called for the immediate release of the arrested students. "Situation in J&K after two years of suppression should've been an eye-opener for GOI & lead to course correction.BJPs pseudo patriotism disregards the idea of India," she said in a tweet.
The college had already suspended the students on Monday saying they were found "being involved in indiscipline act of posting status in favour of Pakistan" after the India-Pakistan match.
Four more people have been arrested in the state; three in Bareilly and one in Lucknow.
"The incident came to light that after the match, anti-national remarks were made. We received a complaint, and an FIR was lodged. They were arrested after a probe," Vikas Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Agra City told news agency ANI.
Activists led by Gaurav Rajawat of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), BJP's youth wing, had reached the college campus in Bichpuri claiming that slogans supporting Pakistan were allegedly being raised in the college. They accused the college of "sheltering traitors". The BJYM leader then filed a complaint against the Kashmiri students after which they were arrested.
The college administration called a press conference the next day saying some "outsiders" had entered the college campus without permission in cars and had reached the hostel gate. "Is this appropriate? Provoking students and telling them the college is involved in anti-national activities. That we are providing a safe haven to the wrong people," a representative from the college said. He added that if anyone has any grievances, they should meet the director of the institution and enquire about it and not create a ruckus. "I want to ask them if our institution is anti-national, why do the RSS chief, the state Chief Minister and Governors of different states visit us?" he said.
The students were arrested and taken to the Jagdishpura police station in Lohamandi, they will be presented in front of the magistrate.
The FIR was registered under sections 153 A and 505 (1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66F of the IT Act 2008.