Omar, Mehbooba others welcome SC ruling
AMN / NEW DELHI
THE Supreme Court today issued a notice to Centre and 10 states on a plea seeking direction to protect Kashmiris in the aftermath of PulwamaTerrorAttack.
The Apex Court directed 10 states and the centre to ensure Kashmiris living across the country do not face a social boycott, harassment or attacks, days after the Pulwama terror attack.
The 10 states are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra.
Supreme Court advocate Tariq Adeeb, who filed the petition on Thursday along with a request for urgent hearing, also mentioned controversial tweets by Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy who endorsed a call to boycott “everything Kashmiri”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the police officers who were appointed as nodal officers to deal with incidents of mob lynching will now be responsible to deal with cases of alleged assault on Kashmiris.
The court told the Home Ministry to give wide publicity of the nodal officers’ contact details so that those who need help can approach them easily.
Meanwhile, the government has said those who disturb peace or spread rumour will face severe punishment. Helplines also have been launched by the police in several states. The Central Reserve Police Force, which lost over 40 of its soldiers in the terror strike, has asked those who need help to contact them via a helpline.
Grateful to the Hon Supreme Court of India for doing what our elected leadership in Delhi should have been doing. The union HRD minister was busy living in denial & a Governor was busy issuing threats. Thank goodness the Hon SC stepped in.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 22, 2019
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.
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 22, 2019