Kashmiri students who were arrested for celebrating Pakistan's win on WhatsApp finally out of jail

Three Kashmiri students from RBS Engineering College in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, who had been arrested last year, have finally managed to get out of jail. They had secured bail on March 30 but had been languishing in jail as a local guarantor, a high-security amount and police verification were not available to them. The students had been arrested on sedition and cyberterrorism charges.

The arrest had been made on October 28, 2021, after the students had posted a WhatsApp status praising Pakistan players after their victory against India in a T20 cricket match. An FIR had been registered by the Agra police under Indian Penal Code sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 505(1)(b) (cause fear or alarm to the public) and section 66F (cyberterrorism) of the Information Technology Act, as reported by PTI.

The students had enrolled in the engineering college under the PM Special Scholarship Scheme for students of Jammu and Kashmir. After the WhatsApp status was posted, they had been chased by right-wing activists, but had safely been taken into police custody. However, local lawyers had refused to fight their case and a lawyer from Mathura, Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi, had represented them in the court.

Their bail order had come from the Allahabad High Court and the students had been released from jail on April 25, Monday, after the formalities had been completed, stated Nasir Khuehami, the Jammu Kashmir Students' Association (JKSA) national spokesperson, as per a PTI report.