No lawyer for J&K students, HC shifts case to another town

MEERUT: Nearly 15 months after three Kashmiri students of an engineering college in Agra were arrested for allegedly celebrating the Pakistan cricket team’s victory over India in a T20 World Cup cricket match, their case file has reached Saharanpur on the orders of the Allahabad high court as lawyers in Agra have refused to fight for them.
The accused, after lawyers in Agra announced they would not represent the Kashmiri youth, some even physically attacking the students in court premises, had petitioned the Allahabad HC to transfer the case to a place outside Agra. On January 11 this year, the HC passed an order, a copy of which is with TOI. that said: “District Bar Association, Agra, has made a resolution that they will not defend the case of the applicants. The cuttings of newspapers have been annexed... Applicants are accused of sedition and feeling inconvenience in the trial at Agra (sic). Considering their submission and keeping in mind the facts and circumstances, it would be appropriate to transfer the present case."
It further said: "Case (crime number 675/2021) under section 153A (promoting enmity on the grounds of religion, race, etc.), 505 (1)(b) (circulation of rumour or report with malafide intentions), 124A (sedition) and section 66F of Information Technology Act, is recalled and transferred from court of CJM (chief judicial magistrate), Agra, to court of CJM, Saharanpur, for disposal in accordance with law.”
Confirming the development, president of Saharanpur Bar Association, Arvind Kumar, said, “To get justice is every citizen’s right.” An FIR was lodged against the three students -- Arsheed Yusuf, Inayat Altaf Sheikh and Shaukat Ahmed Ganai (all in their early 20s) -- for allegedly posting a WhatsApp status praising the Pakistan players, and they were sent to jail in Agra on October 27, 2021.
They got bail from the HC six months later. A sedition case was also slapped against them.
Mathura-based lawyer, Madhuvan Chaturvedi, who eventually took up their matter, told TOI that the case was already set aside due to a "technical flaw". Chaturvedi added: “The prosecution’s case was set aside by the court as provision of CrPC 196 was violated. This section states that no court can take cognisance of an offence punishable under 153A or 124A, etc, except with the previous sanction of the state or Centre. And in this particular case no such sanction was taken. The order was given by the court of additional district and session judge on April 16, 2022."
The lawyer further said, "In May, there was another development. The Supreme Court suspended all criminal trials under sedition in the country. Hence, the case was technically quashed. But for whatever reason, a final closure is yet to take place as the file has not been consigned to the record room. Now with the case reaching Saharanpur court it is expected the file will be consigned soon and sureties (of Rs 2 lakh each) discharged.”
UP president of J&K Student Union, Manzoor Wani, said, “Out of three students only Shaukat Ganai is continuing his studies while the other two have abandoned their education, mainly for two reasons -- firstly, each of them had to spend Rs 10-12 lakh to get out of this mess and all of them are from poor families. Secondly, the other two are scared to return to Agra. Our humble submission is that now that the court has set aside the case, if a closure report is filed, all three will be able to get the release of the surety bond of Rs 2 lakh each. We hope that after the case has come to Saharanpur, the closure will expedite as they are yet to get a clean chit.”
One of the accused students, Shaukat, told TOI: “We had to sell our land and all valuables to fight the case. I continued my studies. I was a topper in my college and was in the final year of BTech. But the other two were not so fortunate.”