Family of a student from this district, who has been arrested by police in a two-year-old case, said on Saturday their son was being “framed.”
Aqib Ahmad Malik who hails from Aglar village of Shopian and is a second-semester student of Bio-Chemistry at University of Kashmir, was summoned by Nigeen police station for questioning in a case dated 2018, on Friday. He was immediately arrested.
“My son remained confined to his house since August last year. He was busy with his studies and attending online classes” said Kausara Bano, his mother. She said Malik was being “framed on frivolous charges.” “The authorities are hell-bent upon ruining my son’s career,” Bano said.
Police have however said Malik was arrested in a “proper case.” A police official said a case (FIR no 68/2018) under section 13 of UAPA stands registered against Malik at Nigeen police stations. “His role has been established in the case and hence he was detained,” said the police official.
Zahoor Ahmad, Malik’s uncle said he was an “active student and nothing more.” “He would always be on forefront regarding student-related issues and would always raise voice against fee hike, poor quality of food in hostel mess, backdoor entries and corruption in the University,” said Ahmad.
He alleged that his nephew was being continuously harassed. A day before he was summoned by police, Malik, in a note, which has gone viral on social media, accused the University authorities of “spoiling his career.”
“In February also, I was arrested under preventive Detention Act and kept in Central jail Srinagar for eight days. After that restriction was imposed on me and I was not even allowed to enter the campus for 20 days,” he has written.
“In 2018, I was summoned by Nigeen police station under FIR 68,” it reads. “In 2017, I was elected as proctor of SA boys hostel Zakura by students and I did my best to help students. But that didn’t go well with the University officials and they started harassing me more. They didn’t allow me to appear in my second-semester tests, citing shortage in attendance as reason, but that was never the case. I lost two years of my career. I’m still in the second semester after four years.”
“I was again summoned in 2019…I stood up against corruption and backdoor entries in the University, which didn’t go well with the authorities. Instead of supporting me they started harassing me and charged me with different cases,” the note reads.