Students’ arrest in Agra: J&K students’ body seeks Modi’s intervention for withdrawal of sedition charge

Agra, November 1

The Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday seeking his intervention for the withdrawal of sedition charges against three Kashmiri students of an engineering college here who have been arrested for allegedly celebrating Pakistan’s win against India in a cricket match.

In a letter to Modi, the association appealed to him to take immediate steps to resolve the issue on humanitarian grounds and to protect the future of the students.

The three Kashmiri students of Raja Balwant Singh Engineering Technical College were booked on sedition charges for allegedly posting a WhatsApp status praising the Pakistan cricket team after their win against India in a T20 cricket match on October 24.

National spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association Nasir Khuehami said, “The action against the Kashmiri students is totally arbitrary and unwarranted. It (what the students did) may be offensive, but it is not illegal in any way”.        

"Charging the students with sedition will ruin their careers, he said.

Khuehami said: “We need to reach out to them (students) and counsel them rather than react with harsh decisions”.

Seeking Modi’s intervention for the withdrawal of sedition charges against the students, he said that the association hopes that they will be given a chance to return to their studies.

“Their future should not be destroyed in the larger interest of the country,” he said.

National general secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association Younus Rashid said the government should give a chance to the students so that their future can be preserved. — PTI