13 held for ‘sedition’, may face PSA over slogans at Srinagar Jamia Masjid

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Police only recently allowed Friday prayers at the Jamia Masjid, after a long shutdown that began first with the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. It was the first time since, that such slogans were raised. Police said around 24,000 people were present in the mosque on Friday, the largest gathering in recent times.

In a release, police said they had identified the 13 youths as being part of the group and charged them under Sections 124A (sedition), and 447 and 120 B (criminal conspiracy). “It also came out during the initial investigation that the accused in furtherance of a well-planned conspiracy had received instructions from Pakistani handlers of terror outfits to disrupt Friday prayers in Jamia Masjid and create a law and order situation by provoking the attendees. Thus Section 120B was also invoked in this case,” police said.

On how it had zeroed in on the 13, it said: “During the course of the investigation, technical means were adopted to identify these hooligans and raids were conducted at different locations, which led to the arrest of the two main instigators of the sloganeering, namely Basharat Nabi Bhat and Umar Manzoor Sheikh. Both were apprehended and formally arrested in the case. Eleven more accused were subsequently arrested who were involved in the sloganeering and hooliganism inside the Jamia Masjid and at the gate.”

Indicating more arrests, it said: “Many more suspected persons are being examined and will be formally arrested as soon as their role clearly comes forth in this case.”

It said it was preparing PSA dossiers of all the accused “for booking them under the PSA as well”. The draconian law allows detention of a person without trial for up to a year.

Police added that the sloganeering had also resulted in an altercation between the youths and volunteers of the Intezamia (managing) Committee of the mosque, who tried to stop them. The “hooligans” were evicted from the mosque by the volunteers, police said. “Even after coming outside, more than a dozen of them tried to provoke others by continuing to raise provocative slogans, but failed. They then dispersed seeing the police presence around.”