Police refute rumours of release of Kashmiri students facing sedition charges
Bengaluru: Right-wing organizations in Karnataka kicked up a fuss Sunday as rumours circulated that three Kashmiri students who were detained for allegedly making a controversial viral video in support of Pakistan were set free on bail.
Shouting Anurag Thakur's slogan 'goli maaro gaddaaron ko,' they gathered before the Gokul Road police station in Hubballi Sunday evening, demanding that they not be released.
Officers at the police station told Deccan Chronicle that the three men had not in fact been released as the investigation into the video was not complete yet.
The three men, Basit Aashiq Sofi from Baramulla, Talib Majeed and Amir Mohiuddin from Anantnag, are being held on sedition charges for making a video in which they are seen showing appreciation for a song with the refrain ‘Pakistan zindabad’.
The three men are engineering students at the KLE Institute of Technology in Hubballi. The video was allegedly made and circulated on the occasion of the anniversary of the Pulwama attack, February 14.
Police slapped sedition charges under IPC 124 A, 153 B, 153 C, 505 (2) against them on the basis of a complaint filed by KLE College principal Basavaraj Anami.
Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner R Dilip said the three students are being questioned but are yet to be formally arrested, which will be done only if the cops are prima facie convinced about the offence.
The police chief rebutted media reports that the youth were arrested and released on a bond under Section 169 of the CrPC. “It is a very sensitive case and we have to conduct a thorough investigation from all angles. We will initiate appropriate action to detain them only if there is basis for the charge of sedition. We will not be influenced by any political pressure. We rescued them from a mob on Friday as they would have been harmed,” Dilip told Deccan Chronicle.
Ashok Anvekara of the Advocates Association said, “These charges against them are nonbailable sections. The students cannot get bail.”
