Authorities said the state's inter-university games tournament would continue.
Controversy hit the inter-university games in Jammu and Kashmir, which aims at creating goodwill between people of different region, after members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad disrupted a football match in Jammu on Friday. The ABVP alleges that players of the Islamic University of Science and Technology and Jammu University did not rise when the national anthem was played before the match. They further demanded an apology from the players and asked them to sing the national anthem if they want to live in India.
"Kashmiri students disrespected the national anthem. Most students were not present here and authorities did not take any action. They just said such incidents should not be repeated," alleged Abhinandan Sharma, a student of the Jammu University.
The Jammu University authorities, however, said that a video of the match is available and everyone stood up for the national anthem. Authorities added that they would go ahead with the rest of the tournament.
"National anthem was sung in the beginning and the end of the game. But some people said the national anthem was disrespected but no one present saw that," said Avatar Singh Jasrotia, the director of Sports and Physical Education, Jammu University.
This view was also echoed by one of the students.
"Nobody disrespected the national anthem," he said.
"But these guys coming and instructing us how to stand when the national anthem is played out is wrong," he added.
On November 30, 2016, the Supreme Court had issued an order to cinema halls to play the national anthem before every screening. Following the order, there were instances of people at movie theatres being assaulted and arrested for not standing up during the anthem. In February, the top court clarified that movie-goers need not stand and sing when the national anthem is being played during a film screening.