Amid reports that over a dozen Facebook account-holders, allegedly involved in abusing and intimidating teenage members of Kashmir’s first all-girl band Pragaash, had been identified and quite a few of them had fled the Valley, the Srinagar police on Thursday arrested three youths. They have been remanded in police custody for eight days.
Authoritative sources associated with the investigation told The Hindu that the police got the three youngsters — Tariq Majid Khan of Sher-e-Kashmir Colony, Anantnag; a teenage student of Baba Wayil, Gutli Bagh (Ganderbal); and Irshad Ahmad Chara of Sheikh Dawood Colony, Batamaloo (Srinagar) — arrested in a series of raids. The sources said the arrests were made on the basis of electronic intelligence collected by the Cyber Crime Cell (CCC), telecommunication and data intercepts, and intelligence provided by different wings of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Scanning the call detail records and the Internet activity carried out through data cards of some Internet service providers, the CCC is believed to have identified at least 12 of the suspects. A middle-ranking police official said three of the suspects, who were wanted on the basis of the revelations made by the three detainees, were not traced anywhere at their residences and other possible hideouts. They were believed to have escaped outside the Valley. He said that, if necessary, the police would dispatch various teams to get all the suspects arrested.
Officials said the three detainees were produced before II Additional Munsif in the Srinagar Sadar Court. They claimed that the entire operation was being supervised by senior police officials and carried out according to the law. They also said inaction for two days was the result of a discussion as to whether or not the police should invoke Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.
Sources said none of the three detainees had a history of involvement in electronic, cyber crime, or routine crime.
Keywords: Kashmir all-girl rock band, Pragaash, abusive Facebook posts, social networks, social media, online abuse, anti-music fatwa, IT Act, Section 66-A
the question is why is the police going against only the ones who posted comments. Why not against the mufti that issued a fatwa? It is a good thing that the state is taking action...but it seems they are solving the wrong problem
Good stenography here.
Some important questions which are not asked?
1. Why did facebook reveal the IP addresses of the users? What law is being followed here?
2. How was it ensured that the people arrested for comments on facebook were not arrested under arbitrary standards by the police?
Freedom of speech is dead in India. And police overreach and corporate connivance in suppressing free speech is alive and well.
When political parties call for nation or state wide "Bandh" that is euivlenent to "fatwa", because if someone refuse to keep his shop's shutter down, workers of political parties try to break the shop and force to close the business
depriving talent or curbing freedom on the name of religion is neither
good for any country nor community. As a human we all are equal and we
should get equal chance in life, life is the most wonderful gift we had,
and religion should contribute for making it better.
I wish the CM showed the same promptness in dealing with the cases related to Human Rights violations in Kashmir which are more grave than this miniscule incident which has been blown out of proportion.
In a democracy no seer has the right to issue fatwas on matters pertaining to the lives of individuals. If any such calls are made action should be initiated against him or her
Everybody has the right to formulate and express opinions in this free
country. The sorry plight of our State is reflected when people are
getting criminally prosecuted for giving out threats and insults on
Facebook. Such people should be have been banned from social
networking sites than booking them. This issue is being blown out of
proportion with the CM of Jammu & Kashmir leading the cavalry out to
protect "Women Rights" out of the blues. Instead he should think about
the well being of people under him than going on Witch hunts to get
into the dailies.
One fails to understand why all such restrictions for Muslim women only
and who are these moulanas to issue such fatwas?When will India be free
from bias towards women artists and writers irrespective of religion?
Shakeera would not have become a world class performer from USA if such
fatwas are issued.What about Shamshad Begum,Suraiah,Parvin sultana and the
list is endless.I think India is going back wards while the west and east
are progressing!!!Kudos to our mute law makers.
The grand Mufti of Kashmir is not above the constitution or law of
India. He has violated the civil rights of these three girls and all
Islamic girls in the present and in the future. So why is the grand
mufti not booked under various penal codes of the India.
Jammu and Kashmir Director-General of Police Ashok Prasad, who is
closely monitoring the case, should look into the kind of damage and
harm the grand Mufti has done to these Indian Islamic girls in Kashmir
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