7 Kashmiri Students Arrested Under UAPA For Pro-Pakistan Chants Celebrating India's Loss At World Cup (image: Pixabay)
Seven Kashmiri students have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for chanting “Long Live Pakistan” after Australia”s victory over India in World Cup final on November 19. The students belong to Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology (SKUAST) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal.
Ganderbal Superintendent of Police Nikhil Borkar states that the arrests come after the confrontation between local students and those from outside Jammu and Kashmir. The incident happened at the university’s Shuhama campus in Ganderbal. The complaint was filed by a student from outside the region. The arrested are identified as Tawqeer Bhat, Mohsin Farooq Wani, Asif Gulzar War, Umer Nazir Dar, Syed Khalid Bukhari, Sameer Rashid Mir and Ubaid Ahmad.
Police filed First Information Report (FIR) under Section 13 of UAPA and Sections 505, 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The complainant, a non-Kashmiri student accuse that Kashmiri students verbally abused and threatened him for supporting India and shouted pro-Pakistan slogans after the World Cup match, The Tribune reports. As per the FIR, the arrested students mostly from fourth-year undergraduates in university’s veterinary sciences and animal husbandry department.
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, citing the news on the social media platform X expressed his discontent regarding charging students under UAPA. “UAPA is meant for terror cases, not surely in cases like this. Like TADA and POTA in the past, UAPA misuse is dangerous and must stop,” he wrote.
Story that caught the eye: 7 Kashmiri students arrested in Srinagar under UAPA for allegedly chanting pro-Pakistan slogans after India lost to Australia in World Cup finals. UAPA is meant for terror cases, not surely in cases like this. Like TADA and POTA in the past, UAPA misuse…
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) November 28, 2023
Cricket matches including India, has been a point of contestation between Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri students even before.
