Srinagar, Jan 1: Lecturer from Gandhi Memorial College here, Prof Noor Muhammad Bhat, who was detained earlier this month for setting a ‘controversial’ question paper, was released Saturday after a court granted him interim bail yesterday.
 Bhat described his arrest as “uncalled for” saying the students had lost almost the entire academic session to the 2010 summer unrest in Kashmir and the paper was set in the backdrop of the events to test the abilities of students.  
 After reaching home, Bhat’s house, located in congested Fateh Kadal in Old City, was thronged by his relatives, neighbours, friends and students. It was an emotional scene as Bhat’s wife and three children wept after spotting the face of their father after three weeks of his detention.
 “The detention was a nightmarish experience of my life,” Bhat told Greater Kashmir. “I am happy to be again with my family. Allah has bestowed His blessings on me. I had never thought that I would ever meet such a treatment”.  
 He said as a teacher it should not have happened with him. “I have 27 years of teaching experience,” Bhat said in a feeble voice. “I didn’t deserve such a treatment”.
 Speaking on the question paper, Bhat said the intervention of police was ‘uncalled for’.
 “It was purely an academic issue,” Bhat said. “So police should have allowed the university to deal with the issue if there was anything objectionable in it.”
 Bhat said: “Since students used to regularly read newspapers and watch TV debates, I thought it would be appropriate to test their abilities by setting a question paper on the current events”.
 He said media “omitted” the points in the paper which had balanced the translation passage on the summer unrest. Bhat said he was an apolitical figure.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 1 Jan 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 1 Jan 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 2 Jan 2011 00:00:00 IST