Kashmiri students spared sedition charges
Police drop sedition charges against students suspended from Indian university for cheering Pakistan cricket team.
Published On 7 Mar 2014
Sedition charges slapped against about 60 Kashmiri students for cheering Pakistan during a recent India-Pakistan cricket match have been dropped, media reports say.
The students of a university in the Indian city of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh had earlier been suspended following clashes with a rival group of students who were angered by their celebrations over Pakistan’s victory in a limited over match played last Sunday in Bangladesh.
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India Today quoted Kamal Saxena, the Uttar Pradesh home secretary, as saying that the sedition charges had been dropped as the police found that they were not applicable.
News that the students have been charged with sedition had triggered an outcry. Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, also criticised the move as unnecessary.
Saxena said the police had registered a case against unidentified men over the incidents at the university, but no Kashmiri students had been named.
India’s federal government has also ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Pakistan defeated India in a Asia Cup match in the final overs, with Shahid Afridi hitting the winning runs.
India and Pakistan are nuclear rivals and have fought three wars, two of them over the territory of Kashmir which both countries claim in full.
Source: Al Jazeera