DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand police on Tuesday arrested 16 Kashmiri students in Dehradun for attempting to burn effigies in protest against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 9 and raising inflammatory slogans.
A senior police officer said while the 16 Kashmiri students are in various educational institutions in the state capital they were instantly booked for disrupting peace. He added that another case may be filed against them once the probe on whether they raised anti-national slogans is complete.
“We have begun to investigate into it and will take suitable action against them once their involvement in the crime is proved”, said a senior police officer in Dehradun. Dehradun SP (City) Dalip S Kunwar said efforts are on to arrest four others who escaped. He said police teams have conducted raids in different hideouts in Dehradun and elsewhere in the state looking for them.
According to Kunwar, security was intensified in Dehradun and its nearby places as a group of Kashmiris gathered to offer funeral prayers before the protest march. Kunwar said the investigation is on to verify the number of Kashmiri students studying in Dehradun and in the state with their antecedents and links to political organizations in Kashmir.
Tension gripped parts of the city as activists from Hindu fundamentalist organizations like the Hindu Jagran Manch, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena gheroed the police station where the 16 were brought. Situation was diffused after the intervention by senior police officers.(The Times of India)
