Student booked under PSA for ‘militant links’

QUOTE: “It seems the govt is hell-bent on ruining the careers of students and youth by implicating them in fake cases, we demand his immediate release,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq tweeted

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 13

A journalism student of the Central University of Kashmir has been detained under the Public Safety Act for his alleged links with militants and has been lodged at high-security Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu.

The student, identified as Adil Farooq Bhat, a resident of Khrew in Pulwama district, was called for questioning by the Awantipora police and subsequently detained on January 12. He, however, has now been lodged at Kot Bhalwal Jail under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

“You met various militants in whose influence you developed a militant ideology. As a result, you established a link with Hurriyat leader Bilal Gani Lone under whose instructions you remained proactive in instigating the same ideology among people and youth of the area,” read the PSA dossier prepared by the police.

The PSA dossier is the basis for Adil's detention order signed by the District Magistrate, Pulwama, on February 1, 2018.

In the dossier, the student has also been accused of being “in liaison with” militants and working as their “overground worker”.

Adil's father Farooq Ahmed has termed the charges levelled against his son “concocted and false”. He has “requested the police and civil authorities of Pulwama district to revoke the PSA against him and save his career”.

Public relations officer (PRO) of the university Arshad Mehraj said Adil was a third semester student in the department of convergent journalism. The PRO said since the campus was closed for winter vacation, he could not say anything more on the issue.

Condemning Adil’s arrest, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said he had been falsely booked under the Public Safety Act and shifted to Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu.

“It seems the govt is hell-bent on ruining the careers of students and youth by implicating them in fake cases, we demand his immediate release,” Mirwaiz tweeted.