Srinagar: Shock and disbelief gripped a Kashmiri student of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) after Telangana police lodged an FIR against him and 13 others for protesting against anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) seven months ago.
Hadif Nisar had returned home in May during the Covid-19 lockdown and is yet to receive any notice from the police. He said most of the students of other states named in the FIR, as per media reports, too were yet to receive any notice so far. He said they are mulling legal action against the police move.
“I came here in May after lockdown. We came to know yesterday about the FIR. This incident took place in February and seven months have passed. Only a student from Telangana received the notice. Other students reportedly named in the FIR are from Bihar and Kerala. They too have not received any notice. We are waiting for the formal notice and will accordingly take legal action,” Nisar told The Kashmir Monitor.
Nisar, who hails from Anantnag district in South Kashmir, said they had taken out a peaceful protest in February and the timing of the FIR had surprised them more.
“Complaint was lodged in February after a protest, but till yesterday we had no idea about the FIR. We had marched from HCU to Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANNU) as a part of the joint protest. However, we were stopped by the police outside the MANNU campus. Though we insisted we want to protest on the campus, we were disallowed. It was a peaceful protest,” he said.
Meanwhile, Danish Lone, Telangana state president of J&K Students Association has urged Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to look into the matter and withdraw FIR against students.
J&K Students Association, Dehradun, spokesman Nasir Khuehami too condemned the FIR against the Kashmiri student and 13 others in Telangana.
“We don’t understand why Hyderabad Police filed FIR against the student for holding a peaceful protest when Telangana Assembly passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act,” he said
Nisar also shared the video of the protest march on his Facebook page. “Here’s the video of the anti-CAA protest inside the MANUU campus for which Telangana police booked me and 13 other student activists of HCU,” he said while sharing the video.
