Srinagar: Protests over the posting of “blasphemous” material online by a non-local student at Srinagar’s National Institute of Technology (NIT) spread spatially in the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday when students of various educational institutions sat on dharna and marched on the campuses. A silent protest was also held at Srinagar’s Mushtaq Press Enclave.
The J&K police said that it has taken cognisance of the incident and booked the accused under the relevant provisions of the law. “If he has committed an offence, he will have to face the law,” said a police officer. The police has warned of legal action against those found involved in any “provocative act” or “instigation” (implies prompting another person to commit an offence).
The classwork at the NIT, Srinagar where the protests started on Tuesday remained suspended on the second day Wednesday. A notification signed by the Registrar of the Institute, Atikur Rehman, said all academic activities, including classes, examinations, and administrative work, will remain suspended till further orders.
The student leaders have demanded that the accused should be arrested immediately “for hurting the religious sentiments of 1.8 billion Muslims by posting material online insulting our beloved Prophet Muhammad.” They said that they were shocked to know that the authorities had instead of handing the “culprit” over to the police sent him home overnight.
The NIT officials said that the student has been sent home on leave. Local media reports quoting unnamed NIT officials said that he has been rusticated and barred from appearing in the next examination whenever held.
Various political parties and religious organisations too have stepped in terming the posting of ‘blasphemous’ material online as “unacceptable”. They have also criticised the role of the NIT authorities and the police in dealing with the incident.
Iltija Mufti, daughter and media advisor of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, in a post on ‘X’ said, “Kashmiri students booked under UAPA for merely cheering a victorious team. But zero action against a non-local for his mischievous provocation by sharing a video slandering our Prophet (SAW). No freedom of expression for Kashmiris but carte blanche given to those who mock Islam.”
Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulama Jammu and Kashmir, a conglomerate of religious bodies headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, while strongly condemning the incident said that the reverence and honour of Islam’s Prophet “is dearer to a Muslim than his or her own life and such blasphemous remarks will not be tolerated by the Muslims of the Valley”. It demanded a thorough investigation into how and why this incident occurred, and that all those found involved should be brought to book. “We hope that this insolence will be taken seriously by the authorities and serious efforts will be made to prevent such incidents from happening in the future,” it said.
The police said that it has taken cognizance of the incident and formally booked NIT student over his “uploading sensitive content against religious sentiments of a particular community.” It said that a case FIR has been registered against him at the concerned police station under sections 295A, 153 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code.
These sections pertain to deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs; malignantly or wantonly doing anything which is illegal or giving provocation to any person intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause the offence of rioting to be committed; and making an attempt to promote any sort of conflict or enmity between various groups on the basis of religion, place of birth, race, residence, respectively.
The police urged the people not to indulge in any such acts that would cause enmity between various groups or create any law-and-order situations. It said, “Common public is appealed to desist from spreading rumours/false information. They shouldn't fall prey to false propaganda of anti-social elements.” The police warned of legal action against those who are found to be involved in “provocative acts or instigation".
J&K Cyber Police in a separate statement said that it has taken cognisance of “instigative and provocative contents” being shared on various social media handles and pages and that action under law is being initiated.
