Students protested against a teacher who was accused of molestation and subsequently detained.
Police said Umar Akbar Hajam, Salman Ahmed Shala, Altaf Ahmed Sheikh, Mubashir Ahmed Gilkar, Muzammill Mushtaq Changa and Majid Firdous Dar were detained under the Public Safety Act and with the authorization of the magistrate. They are being held in Doda, Jammu.
All were from Sobol, but none were students, police said. “These lawless elements sought to disrupt the peace during a recent student protest. Their activities posed a serious threat to public order and safety,” the police statement said, adding that more individuals involved in the April 13 riots were being prosecuted, including under the Public Safety Act.
Police issued a warning to the public, asking them to “stay away from illegal activities and not become the target of incitement by anti-social elements”.
Police did not mention the specific terms of the PSA under which the six people were booked. The law allows defendants to be detained without trial for six months, with the possibility of an extension of six months, if they pose a threat to national security. Under the public order threat clause, preventive detention can last up to three months and can be extended by another three months.
Earlier, the PSA allowed detention without trial for up to two years. But an amendment in 2011, when J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was in office, reduced the detention period for threats to national security from two years to six months and from one year to three months for threats to public order.