NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the tough anti-terror law, have been filed against two medical students in Srinagar who celebrated Pakistan’s maiden T20 World Cup victory against India on Sunday.
The videos show women students rejoicing Pakistan victory and shouting pro-Pakistan slogans at girls’ hostels of Medical College Srinagar and Shere Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences. The clip has since been widely circulated on social media.
In Rajasthan, a private school teacher in Udaipur was sacked and a case registered against her after she posted a celebratory WhatsApp status following Pakistan’s victory over India. Nafeesa Attari, a teacher at Neerja Modi School Udaipur, had posted a picture of Pakistani players with the caption, “Jeeeet gayeeee… We wonnn.”
Commenting on the cases filed against medical students in Kashmir, J&K Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone said punitive action should not be taken against students. “I strongly disagree. If you think that they r not patriotic enough because they cheered for another team- u should have the courage and the belief to wean them back if u think they have gone patriotically astray. Punitive actions won’t help. Have not helped in the past either,” tweeted Lone.
Official sources said the FIR under the anti-terror law was filed at two separate police stations – Karan Nagar and Soura – in Srinagar on Monday. The celebrations saw firecrackers going off in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir at a time Home Minister Amit Shah was in town. Shah was on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmiri, his first since August 2019, when he announced in parliament the scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and the downgrading of the state to two Union Territories.
Officials at SKIMS say they have constituted a fact-finding committee to investigate how the video surfaced on social media showing students celebrating the Pakistan win. The committee will submit report to government in 48 hours. “There is no signage that shows that celebration happened inside the Institute. Yet, we are investigating it. A fact-finding committee has been constituted to submit a report to the government within 48 hours” said an official. Sources say police are busy verifying videos that surfaced from various parts of Kashmir to identify the people celebrating and rejoicing in Pakistan victory in the cricket match.
Addressing Panchayat members in Srinagar, Amit Shah said he wanted Kashmiri youth to play for Team India. During his visit, the Home Minister spurning suggestion of talks with Pakistan stressed that the government would rather talk to the youth of Jammu and Kashmir for making it the most developed in the country.
“Yes, we have taken a decision to terminate the teacher,” said Neerja Modi school chairman Mahendra Sojatia after a meeting of the Sojatia Charitable Trust, which runs the school. Amba Mata Police Station officer Narpat Singh said a case has also been registered against the teacher under Indian Penal Code section 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot).
The teacher later released a video statement apologising for the post, and saying she did not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiment. “Someone messaged me and asked whether ‘you support Pakistan.’ As the message had emojis and it was environment of fun, I replied ‘Yes’. But, it doesn’t mean anywhere that I support Pakistan. I am an Indian and I love India. I love India as much as everyone else does,” Ms Attari said in the video message.
She added, “As soon as I realised that I have made a mistake, I deleted the status message. I am sorry if I have hurt anybody’s sentiments.” India lost its ICC T20 world cup opener against Pakistan by 10 wickets on Sunday.
(Manas Dasgupta)