The judicial remand of the three Kashmiri students who were booked on charges of sedition for allegedly sharing anti-national posts on social media after Pakistan’s victory over India at the ICC T20 World Cup, was extended till 7 December by a local Agra court on Thursday, 25 November, reported Times of India.
The three students, according to a report by The Indian Express, study at Agra’s Raja Balwant Singh (RBS) Engineering Technical College under the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir students, and were arrested on 26 October.
The accessed have been identified as Arsheed Yusuf, Inayat Altaf Sheikh, and Showkat Ahmed Ganai, reported The Indian Express.
The trio were booked on 26 October under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (1)(B) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public), and 66-F (cyberterrorism, an offence that could lead to a life sentence) of the Information Technology Act. They were charged with sedition a day later.
Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court has fixed 10 December as the next date of hearing for the case, which seeks a transfer for Agra to Mathura, reported Times of India. Representing them in the case is Mathura lawyer Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi, who came forward after lawyers in Agra refused to represent the students.
Hindustan Times reported that Chaturvedi is seeking bail for all three students. Chaturvedi told Hindustan Times, “It is a question of the image that our country carries internationally of a cultured and law-abiding democracy where no one is punished without being provided the opportunity of being heard."
(With inputs from The Times of India, The Indian Express, and Hindustan Times.)
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