The Jammu & Kashmir Police booked a student of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar, on November 29 for allegedly “insulting Islam” and “outraging the religious feelings”, in the wake of protests spreading in the Kashmir Valley following reports of an objectionable post shared on social media by the student.
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A police spokesperson said the J&K Police had taken cognisance of the incident of “uploading of sensitive content against religious sentiments of a particular community by one student of the NIT, Srinagar”.
A case had been registered under Section 295A (malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings), 153 and 153A (vilification of the founders and prophets of a religion) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.
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The First Information Report (FIR) was registered following hundreds of students streaming on to the NIT campus in Srinagar on Tuesday evening against the non-local engineering student for allegedly posting the “blasphemous video”.
The incident sparked more protests on November 29, with hundreds of students from Srinagar’s Amar Singh Degree College holding a street protest. They raised pro-Islam slogans and sought strict action against the students.
A spokesperson of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulama Jammu and Kashmir, an amalgam of religious bodies in Kashmir, “strongly condemned the blasphemous remarks against the Holy Prophet of Islam”. “It’s totally unacceptable,” the Ulama spokesperson said.
Facing growing protests over the sharing of the objectionable video, the J&K Police appealed to locals “to desist from spreading rumours or false information”.
“They shouldn’t fall prey to false propaganda of anti-social elements. Legal action shall be taken against those who are found to be involved in provocative acts or instigation,” the police said.