Noida: Complaint against J&K student after Pulwama post, he says account fake

NOIDA: A Facebook post on the Pulwama attack, allegedly posted from a fake account with a name similar to that of a Kashmiri student at a Greater Noida college (IIMT), led to a police complaint being filed against the student, protests online and anger on the campus.

Twitter users flagged the post, which they denounced as a justification of the terror attack on a CRPF convoy that killed 40 jawans earlier this week, and asked police to take action. It was uploaded on Thursday from an account created under the name of “Eshfaq Khawaja”. The personal information section of the account said MBA student at IIMT group of colleges and a former student of Government College in Kashmir’s Baramulla.

The police complaint was filed by Aviral Sharma, who runs a portal called ‘India Report Card’ and identifies himself as a BJP supporter. Sharma told TOI he had filed a written complaint with the Knowledge Park police station. Sharma said in the complaint the “IIMT student had praised the Pulwama attack and written an anti-India post”. “I called up the college authorities on Saturday morning and they claimed they had suspended the student from the college. When I went to the college, they claimed that they had terminated him. However, no action was taken against him and I decided to give a police complaint against him,” Sharma said. College authorities said they had a student from Kupwara by the name of Ishfaq Khoja. IIMT chief proctor Sanjay Pachauri told TOI, “When we got to know about the incident, we first checked the details. We got in touch with the student, who is currently in Kashmir, and issued a notice to him, asking for his response. He said an ID was made in his name, with a different spelling but the same picture (as his). He said the ID was fake and shared details of his Facebook account.

We then issued a second notice to him, asking for a police complaint filed in case the account was fake. He has shared the police complaint given to Kralpora police station, which is probing the incident.” Students of the college expressed anger against the post. “The college has been defamed because of it,” said one student said. SP (rural) Vineet Jaiswal said the complaint was being looked into by Jammu and Kashmir Police and cops in Noida were in touch with them. Hundreds of college students, meanwhile, gathered in the Knowledge Park — some faculty members also joined in — and at Pari Chowk and Expo Mart to protest against the Pulwama terror attack. Students of GL Bajaj Institute of Management and Research, Accurate Institute of Management and Technology and IIMT were among those who took to the streets.

Harshit Singhal, a BTech first-year student, said they were seeking a strong response against Pakistan. “Terrorists have carried out a cowardly act by attacking our men in uniform. We have full faith in our Army and urge the PM to give Pakistan a befitting reply,” he said.