Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 21 () The Allahabad High Court has transferred the trial of three Jammu and Kashmir students from the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Agra to the court of CJM, Saharanpur.
Justice Om Prakash Tripathi passed the order on a transfer plea moved by the students, whose counsel submitted before the court that the Agra District Bar Association had decided that none of its members would defend the applicants.
The students, all of whom are students of an engineering college in Agra, were accused of raising pro-Pakistan slogans following Pakistan’s victory in a T20 Cricket World Cup match against India in 2021.
The counsel for the applicants also submitted that the latter were accused of sedition. Hence, they were feeling ‘inconvenient’ if the trial went on in Agra.
Allowing the transfer application filed by Inayat Altaf Sheikh and others, the court passed the above directives, and stated, “Considering the submission of the applicants and keeping in mind the facts and circumstances of the case, the court found it appropriate to transfer the case crime no- 675/2021, under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 505(1)(b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public), 124A (sedition) Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66F of Information Technology Act.”
“Hence, this case, which was initially registered at police station Jagdishpura of Agra district is recalled and transferred from the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Agra to the court of CJM, Saharanpur for disposal in accordance with the law,” the court added.
The three students Inayat Altaf Sheikh, Arshad Yusuf and Shoukat Ahmed Ganai were arrested on October 27 by Agra Police. Subsequently, they were granted bail in the case last year by the high court.
All three were booked under sections 124 A (sedition) and other sections of IPC and also under 66-F of the Information Technology (IT) Act for allegedly sending objectionable messages on WhatsApp after the match.
amita/dpb