Malafide intentions
The police finally filed its charge sheet in the much hyped and talked about JNU sedition case. The accused, including seven Kashmiri students were named in the 1,200-page charge sheet for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during an event on the university’s campus on February 9, 2016, to commemorate the hanging of Parliament-attack convict Afzal Guru.
In Kashmir the move by the Delhi police is being seen as yet another attempt to silence the voice that has been raised for the hapless Kashmiri’s. Even hours after the charge sheet was filed, former IAS officer Shah Faesal minced no words and termed the invoking of sedition law against Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the JNU case as travesty of free speech.
The police took nearly three years to work out the charge sheet which includes naming former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaya Kumar and nine others. All these were accused of raising anti-India slogans and the Delhi police thought it fit to charge them with sedition.
However, Shah Feasal questioned the very section of the law that was invoked by the police. He said that Sec 124A IPC is totally at odds with the spirit of the time as the world has moved on and India has grown up. The section of the sedition law was even questioned by senior law experts who termed it as a ‘colonial hangover’.
The filing of charge sheet which also names seven Kashmiri students has generated a debate in Kashmir with the move being seen as a deliberate attempt to ruin their careers.
The charge sheet has been filed after three years and is aimed at silencing those sane voices who dared to challenge a wrong that was committed under the garb of nationalism and self pride.
Though it is for the courts to decide about the fate of the charge sheet but such incidents have serious implications. The persecution and serious intimidation of Kashmiris in the name of national interest can deprive them of their right to seek education and live a peaceful life.
This incident is not an isolated one against Kashmiris as in the past, similar incidents have happened in various states forcing the students to leave their education midway and live a desolate life.
The police action also signifies a crackdown on youth and student activists which is otherwise the essence of today’s educational scenario. Student’s activities are encouraged around the globe so as to carve out future leaders from this community. But such acts of students activism are being seen as anti national here.
This sort of mind set will spell doom for the nation as such activities will halt the grooming process of youngsters who later in their lives prove to be assets for the nation by taking up the leadership in their hands.
This has to stop and student activism should be encouraged at all costs.
KV Network
