UAPA Against Students of 2 J&K Colleges for 'Celebrating' Pak Win in T20 WC

People at two institutes reportedly “burst crackers, danced and raised anti-India slogans” after India's defeat

Despite the restrictive Section 43D(5), bail is possible in UAPA cases.

(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

Students, wardens and staff belonging to two medical colleges in Kashmir have reportedly been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after they allegedly raised anti-India slogans and celebrated Pakistan's victory in the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match on Sunday, 24 October.

ThePrint reported that the police said that the incidents took place at the hostels of Sher-E-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura and Government Medical College (GMC) in Karan Nagar.

People at these two institutes reportedly “burst crackers, danced and raised anti-India slogans” after India's heavy defeat on Sunday.

Scroll.in reported that the students have also been charged under Section 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.

“The FIRs have been registered in Soura and Karan Nagar Police Stations of Srinagar city under sections 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and 505 of the Indian Penal Code. Our probe is currently underway. We will set an example through this case,” a senior officer of J&K Police told News18.

The officer further said that the police were scanning through multiple videos that have emerged on social media, some of which have been found to be old.

However, the accused in the FIRs are yet to be identified and no arrests have been made in the case yet.

Meanwhile, officials at one of the colleges, SKIMS, said they have formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the video and whether such celebrations took place inside the college and will submit a report to the government in 48 hours, reported NDTV.

Sajad Lone, J&K Peoples Conference leader, 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 (sic)," he tweeted.

(With inputs from Scroll.in, ThePrint, NDTV and News18.)