The Jammu and Kashmir Police have registered a case under the Unlawful Activities Act against lawyers for comparing Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Maqbool Bhat with freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Chandrashekhar Azad, The Tribune reported on Wednesday. The lawyers had reportedly put up posters in the Saddar Court Complex in Srinagar in which Bhat and Guru were hailed as “heroes of Kashmir”.
The FIR was lodged Batamaloo police station on February 9, the fifth anniversary of Guru’s hanging. “Police station received information from credible sources that some lawyers and their agents had pasted posters of Bhat and Guru wherein they were termed as heroes of Kashmir; Singh, Sukhdev and Azad were declared heroes of India,” reads the FIR, according to Greater Kashmir.
It also said that the posters challenged the sovereignty of India. An unidentified police officer told Greater Kashmir that they have seized the posters and are investigating where those were printed from. “We are sure to find out who was behind the act,” he said.
The police have not named any lawyer and no one has been called for questioning yet, reported DNA. An officer said they have video evidence and would identify the people soon.
However, Kashmir High Court Bar Association General Secretary GN Shaheeen said it was nothing new for them. “We believe almost every citizen of Kashmir has been booked under this Act for raising voice against the forcible control of New Delhi,” he told Greater Kashmir. “First of all, on February 9, there was complete strike and no lawyer was present in the court. We don’t know who pasted these posters. Lodging FIR against lawyers is a non-issue.”
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