AMU Research Scholars Booked Under Sedition Charges For Commemorating Hizbul Militant Manan Wani

Research scholars of Aligarh Muslim University from Jammu and Kashmir were booked for sedition charges on Friday (12 October) for raising anti-national slogans during a prayer meeting held to commemorate the Hizbul Mujahideen militant killed in Kashmir a day earlier, reports Hindustan Times.

"Two AMU PhD scholars, identified as Wasim Ayub Malik and Abdul Haseeb Mir are seen in a video organising prayers to commemorate the death Manan Wani. Wani is a former AMU research scholar and Hizbul commander, who was shot dead in an encounter by security forces in north Kashmir’s Handwara district on Thursday (11 October),” Aligarh SSP, Ajay Kumar Sahni was quoted saying.

In the videos, Malik and Mir are found to be raising anti-national slogans including seeking ‘Azadi’, following which they were charged with IPC 124A and other charges including rioting and promoting enmity.

Both Wasim Ayub Malik and Abdul Haseeb Mir were named while there are others unidentified but involved in raising anti-national slogans. The video is being thoroughly examined to identify others as well, said the SSP.

However, reports suggest that such incidents had occurred in the past where the university had initiated disciplinary action against nine students, including those from Jammu and Kashmir, for organising the prayer meeting on the campus for Wani.

A former research scholar in the geology department of AMU, Wani was rusticated from the university in January after it had found that he was a member of Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir.