J&K lecturer booked for ‘seditious’ posts

The Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday booked a higher secondary school lecturer for “seditious posts” on social media.

A Sopore police spokesperson said Tahir Nazir Shalla, son of Nazir Ahmad Shalla from Sopore, violated the social media policy for government employees and ran an anti-national campaign, creating an “untrue and fake narrative.”

“Shalla was circulating highly seditious and provocative posts through his social media accounts, which were highly prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order,” the police said.

The accused, the spokesman said, was handed over to the Sopore police station by the cyber cell. “He has been booked under relevant sections of law... Investigations are set in motion to identify other persons involved in similar anti-state campaigns on social media and spreading a false propaganda,” the police said.

The action comes days after the Sopore police was criticised for the photos and video of a three-year-old boy that went viral online from an encounter site. The photos of the boy were clicked as his grandfather lay dead, having been caught in the crossfire between militants and the security forces two days ago.

A petition has been filed before the National Human Rights Commission for an impartial inquiry into the killing.