Six months after they were arrested in Agra for social media posts allegedly congratulating Pakistan for their win over India in the T20 World Cup, three Kashmiri students were finally released on the evening of Monday, 25 April.
The three engineering students – Showkat Ahmad Ghani, Arshad Yousuf Paul and Inayat Altaf Sheikh – had been granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on 30 March, nearly one month ago.
However, with the court ordering them to furnish personal bonds with sureties for Rs 2 lakh, they had remained in jail while their families struggled to find the money to secure their release. The formalities were finally completed, allowing their release.
"We are extremely happy to see our kids free after a long 180 straight days," Arshads uncle Mohammad Laeef told The Quint.
Speaking to The Quint earlier this month, Arshad's uncle Mohammad Yaseen Paul had explained the difficulties faced by his family – his father died when Arshad was just one year old, leaving behind his wife and three children – in trying to come up with the deposits and sureties.
“They don’t have any means of earnings, so it is going to be impossible to get together a hefty money of two lakh rupees in cash to pay as a surety deposit,” Yaseen had said.
Showkat's mother Hafeeza had told The Quint that she was ready to sell her house to ensure her son's release, "but who will buy our ramshackle house?”
The release of the three students on bail has also been held up while the jail authorities completed the verification process, which includes assessing where they will reside after release.
The Case Against the Students & the Allahabad HC's Bail Order
The students had been arrested on 27 October 2021 by the Uttar Pradesh police after being booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different communities), 505 (circulating statement with intent to cause fear or alarm) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as Section 66F (cyber terrorism) of the Information Technology Act.
Section 124A, which deals with the serious offence of sedition, was included later.
The FIR against them alleged that on 24 October, following Pakistan's win over India in the T20 Cricket World Cup,
"Three students of RBS college — Inayat Altaf Shaikh, Showkat Ahmad Gani, and Arshad Yusuf raised anti-national slogans of 'Bharat Tere Tukde Honge', Pakistan Zindabad, and put up anti-India slogans on social media through their WhatsApp status. These people are trying to stir tension, which might spoil the atmosphere of the country."
The three students of Raja Balwant Singh Management Technical Campus were suspended by their college in connection with the claims on 25 October 2021.
Local lawyers refused to represent the students, who were even attacked when produced before the local court. Eventually, Mathura-based lawyer Madhuvan Dutt took up their brief.
When the lower courts refused to grant them bail, they approached the Allahabad High Court.
Granting them bail on 30 March, the court did not go into the merits of the case per se. However, the court made a number of observations in its order that are worth repeating given the charge of sedition that has been made against the students.
"The unity of India is not made of bamboo reeds which will bend to the passing winds of empty slogans," the order notes, before adding:
"The foundations of our nation are more enduring. Eternal ideals bind the indestructible unity of India. Constitutional values create an indissoluble union of India. Every citizen of the country is the custodian, and the State is the sentinel of the unity of India and the constitutional values of the nation."
While the high court's order did not go into the allegations of assault of the students at the court premises and the Agra District Bar Association's refusal to allow any members to represent them, it observed
"However, the court feels that if the allegations are true, it is a matter of concern. Lawyers have an oath inscribed in their consciences to assist the cause of law under all circumstances and to serve justice to all those who seek it at all times."
(With inputs from Piyush Rai and Ishfaq Reshi)
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