Srinagar: Three Kashmiri students booked for sedition by Uttar Pradesh police for supporting Pakistan cricket team in the T20 World cup match against India, were roughed up on Thursday by the members of rightwing Hindu outfits outside a court in Agra, reports said.
According to NDTV, the students, Arshid Yusuf and Inayat Altaf Sheikh, both residents Budgam and Showkat Ahmed of Bandipora, were roughed up by a mob of rightwing activists when they were produced in front of a magistrate in Agra city on Thursday.
Videos from outside the court show a group of men heckling the students and shouting slogans while the police try to escort them to a police vehicle and take them away. The group can be heard shouting “Pakistan Murdabad” (Down with Pakistan) and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” (Long live India).
Earlier, the UP police booked the trio for sedition, while the court in Agra remanded them in 14-day judicial custody.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier in the day had said the sedition law will be invoked against those celebrating Pakistan’s victory against India in the recent T20 World Cup match.
“The three students were arrested on Wednesday after an FIR was lodged against them at the Jagdishpura police station. They were accused of raising pro-Pakistan slogans in the wake of an India-Pakistan T20 cricket match and posting celebratory messages on social media after Pakistan’s victory,” a police official said.
On Thursday, they were produced in a magistrate’s court in Agra, which remanded them in 14-day judicial custody, the official said.
“The FIR was initially registered under IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 505 (creating or publishing content to promote enmity). Section 124A (sedition) of the IPC was included on Thursday in the case,” the police official said.
The trio studies in Raja Balwant Singh Management Technical Campus in Agra.
On Wednesday, various organisations, including right-wing outfits, protested at the Collectorate premises here and demanded action against the students.
They also submitted a memorandum to officials concerned in this connection.
According to faculty members of the college, members of right-wing outfits barged into the college campus on Tuesday and staged a protest against the college and its students.
Dr Pankaj Gupta, the institute’s director of administration and finance, said they forcefully entered the campus at around 3.45 pm on Tuesday when classes were being held and they also tried to gain access to the students’ hostels.
“Their act was inappropriate and unacceptable. They did not even try to contact the college management and when they were stopped from entering the hostel premises, they began raising slogans against the college,” Gupta said.
“The college has suspended the three students. But they still raised objectionable slogans to defame the college,” he said.
In protest to the incidents inside the college, its management said it has decided to indefinitely shut all its educational institutions and demanded action against the groups responsible. (With inputs from PTI)
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