Jaipur: Sedition charges against four Kashmiri students for 'celebrating' Pulwama attack

Forty CRPF personnel were killed Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.(Image: ANI)

JAIPUR: Four female paramedical students of Kashmiri-origin in Jaipur have been slapped with sedition charges for allegedly celebrating the Pulwama terror attack, PTI reported. The students have also been suspended from the university. The action was taken against them for posting "anti-national" messages on an instant messaging app. The second-year students of the National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Talveen Manzoor, Iqra, Zohra Nazir and Uzma Nazir, were suspended for posting on WhatsApp a picture in which they were purportedly seen celebrating the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel killed by a suicide bomber. The picture soon went viral, prompting the university administration to take action. In the suspension order, the NIMS registrar said,"You have posted an anti-national message on your WhatsApp for celebrating killing of Pulwama terrorist attack martyrs. The university will not tolerate and strictly condemns such activities. The act is grave and serious in nature." Later, a case was registered against the four students following a complaint by the university administration, a police official said. The students were booked under IPC sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity) and relevant provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Senior officials are investigating the matter and appropriate action will be taken thereafter, SP (Rural) Harendra Kumar said. The Aligarh Muslim University has also suspended an undergraduate Kashmiri student for his alleged objectionable tweet in connection with the Pulwama attack. (WITH PTI inputs)