india

Updated: Feb 23, 2019 12:37 IST

The Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and union territories to ensure that Kashmiris, particularly students, feel secure, amid reports from several parts of the country that they were being targeted over the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama where 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed.

Students from Kashmir bore the brunt of the backlash that followed the attack, with hundreds fleeing cities such as Dehradun and Ambala after being threatened by right-wing activists who, in some cases, resorted to physical intimidation and forced landlords to evict the victims.

Chief secretaries and heads of police in all states must take prompt action to prevent “incidents of assault, threat, social boycott and such other egregious acts against the Kashmiris including students... and other minorities”, the bench, including Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, said in the order.

Attorney general KK Venugopal told the court the Union government issued advisories to all states over the issue previously, but the judges ask the counsel to reiterate the directive. Late on Friday, the MHA issued a directive reiterating an order on February 16 for Kashmiris to be ensured security across country.

On February 14, Pulwama resident and JeM operative Adil Ahmad Dar detonated a car bomb next to a CRPF bus, leading to the deaths of all on-board.

The incident, the deadliest attack on security forces in the Jammu and Kashmir region in three decades of insurgency, triggered anger across the country, prompting protest marches and angry demonstrations against JeM and Pakistan, the country where it is based.

Kashmiri students and businesses were targeted in several states, while at some places, police booked some Kashmiris for “anti-India” social media posts allegedly praising the attack.

Earlier this week, a Pakistani prisoner was killed after a brawl in a prison in Jaipur, but jail authorities said it may not be linked to Pulwama.

The top court said nodal officers must be appointed to look into complaints of persecution and attacks against people from Kashmir and other minorities, reviving a system that had been put into place to combat growing incidents of mob lynching last year.

Heeding to a requests by the petitioners’ advocate Colin Gonsalves, the court ordered the government to give wide publicity to the contact details and helpline numbers linked to the nodal officers appointed in each state or Union Territory.

The court fixed February 28 to hear the matter again and issued notice to 11 states — Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra – after specific incidents were brought to notice.

The petitioners also referred to tweets by Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, who endorsed a call to boycott “everything Kashmiri”.

Kashmir’s former chief ministers and arch-rivals Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the Supreme Court’s order.

“Relieved about the SC order to ensure Kashmiri students based outside J&K are not harassed or face social boycott. Shameful that the honourable judiciary took decisive action where others conveniently turned a blind eye,” Mufti, the chief of the People’s Democratic Party, tweeted.

“Grateful to Supreme Court for doing what our elected leadership in Delhi should have been doing. The union HRD (Human Resource Development) minister (Prakash Javadekar) was busy living in denial and (Meghalaya) Governor (Tathagata Roy) was busy issuing threats. Thank goodness the SC stepped in,” Abdullah, the vice president of the National Conference, also said in a tweet.

Union minister Javadekar had drawn flak for saying on Wednesday that no Kashmiri was facing threats. On Friday, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra, when asked about governor Roy’s comments, said Kashmir is an inseparable part of India and Kashmiris are like “brothers and sisters” to other Indians.

“I am directed to say that the Government is concerned at the reports of incidents of assaults and harassment against residents of Jammu & Kashmir... State governments and Union territory administrations and the nodal officers appointed by them are once again advised to take all necessary steps to prevent any act of assault, threat, intimidation, social boycott etc...” said the letter signed by Beena Yadav, director, department of J&K affairs of MHA.

In a related development, another bench of the Supreme Court sought a response from the Centre on a plea by the Jammu and Kashmir government to transfer seven Pakistani undertrials from the state to Delhi’s Tihar jail over fears that they may be “indoctrinating” and “brainwashing” other vulnerable inmates to join militancy.

The seven prisoners are lodged in separate jails across Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the state counsel, the prisoners are said to be a part of terror organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba.