SRINAGAR – A local court in Karnataka’s Hubballi on Monday extended judicial custody of the three Kashmiri students charged with sedition for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans, by another five days.
A Hubbali court sent Basit Ashiq Sofi (19), Talib Majid (19) and Amir Mohiuddin (23), to judicial custody till March 7, Advocate B.T. Venkatesh pleading case of the accused students told Kashmir Observer over phone.
Venkatesh said the bail application was moved on Friday last and on March 2, the session court heard the bail plea. The court, he said gave the prosecution two day for filing the objections.
On February 14, the three engineering students from KLE Institute of Technology in Hubballi were arrested and charged with sedition after a video of them purportedly shouting Pakistan Zindabad went viral.
A day later, the Hubballi Bar Association passed a resolution and barred its members from representing the three Kashmiri students.
Twenty-four lawyers from Bengaluru including BT Venkatesh filed a petition with the Karnataka High Court against the Hubballi Bar Association’s resolution.
The High Court had reprimanded the bar association and reminded them that every accused is entitled to a fair trial.
According to police officials, the selfie video of the three had gone viral as they posted it on WhatsApp. In the viral video, they allegedly were heard chanting “Azadi” and “Pakistan Zindabad”.
After the college administration came across the video, the principal informed the police and an FIR under IPC sections relating to sedition and communal harmony was filed.
The students were arrested on February 15 and released a day later after they executed a bond under Section 169 of the CrPC.
The police re-arrested them on February 17 after members of right-wing organisations protested outside the Gokul police station in Hubli where the students were lodged for a day.
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