Srinagar, Nov 27: Seven students of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K) in Ganderbal district have been arrested for cheering over India’s defeat by Australia in the recently concluded Cricket World Cup.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Virdi Kumar Birdi said that the case had been registered and investigations were underway.
The students have been charged with public mischief and criminal intimidation under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Sections 505 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Police said that the case was registered under FIR No 317/2023 after a student from outside Kashmir complained before Police about the seven final-year students of SKUAST-K (Shuhama campus) that he was threatened with dire consequences after Australia defeated India in the men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 final held on November 19.
“The student has filed a complaint alleging that he was abused and threatened by seven Kashmiri students who are enrolled in the university’s Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry Department as he supported India,” read the complaint filed by the students before Police on which later a subsequent FIR was registered. “They also threatened me after India’s loss against Australia in the World Cup Final.”
According to the complainant, the accused students raised pro-Pakistan slogans (Jeeve Jeeve Pakistan), which, according to them created fear among the students from outside J&K.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, V K Birdi told Greater Kashmir that a case had been registered.
“The case was registered a day after the final,” the Kashmir Police chief said. “Police are investigating the case. Sections of law corresponding to ingredients of offences are invoked under UAPA and IPC offences. They have been booked under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).”
In the past, there have been instances when local and non-local students in an educational institution in Kashmir clashed over a cricket match.
In 2021, the UAPA was invoked by the J&K Police to arrest medical college staff and students who had celebrated Pakistan’s triumph over India in the T20 World Cup.
Before this, students from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar got into an argument in 2016 following India’s T20 World Cup semi-final loss to West Indies.