Bengaluru: There was trouble at the courthouse when three Kashmiri students who made a pro-Pakistan video were brought to a Hubballi court for a remand hearing on Monday.
The crowd of bystanders, many of them right-wing activists, shoved the police and hurled shoes and slippers on the students.
Basit Aashiq Sofi from Baramulla, Talib Majeed and Amir Mohiuddin from Anantnag, students of civil engineering at KLE Institute of Technology in Hubballi, were given over to judicial custody till March 3 by judge Pushpa Jogoji today.
Trouble at the courthouse as three students where three #Kashmir students were brought for a remand hearing for making a pro-Pakistani video. pic.twitter.com/Fhoe5oMCOK
— Deccan Chronicle (@DeccanChronicle) February 17, 2020
Sedition charges have been slapped against the three men for making a viral video in their hostel room, singing along to a song that had the refrain Paistan Zindabad. The video was detected on their WhatsApp accounts on Februaru 14, which happens to be the anniversary of the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.
#Right-wing activists threw footwear at 3 #Kashmir students facing #sedition charges in #Hubli were taken away to judicial custody. #Pulwama #Pro-PakistanVideo pic.twitter.com/D4C2Zl2aUL
— Deccan Chronicle (@DeccanChronicle) February 17, 2020
A crowd that gathered at the courthouse hurld shoes and slippers on the three students as police rushed them into a vehicle to take them away to remand. Policmen had a tough time controlling the violent crowd.
Some of the bystanders in the court halls raised full-throated ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ and ‘Jai Sriram’ slogans. Some objected when the Kashmiri students were made to sit in a special room in the court premises. They got into a verbal duel with the police for what they said was 'special treatment'. When the judge read out the remand order, there were cheers raised.
The three students were not represented by any advocate. The local bar association had decided not to represent them.
The KLE College authorities have confirmed that the students have been suspended from the college.
The crowd gathered in the premises of the court also slammed the police for poor handling of the case. They also demanded the suspension of the police commissioner of Hubballi, Dharwad Dileep, who gave contradicting statements about the release of the Kashmiri students yesterday.
Union minister Prahlad Joshi had pulled up the police department for creating confusion in the case. “Why there should be confusion on a sedition case? The statements by the police have provoked the people. The state home ministry should consider this case seriously,” he said.
