The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre and 10 states to ensure safety and security of the Kashmiris living across the country, and to make sure they do not face social boycott or attacks. This comes following reports of harassment and attack on Kashmiris in various parts of the country after the terrorist attack in Kashmir’s Pulwama on February 14 in which over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel died.
The ten states are Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Maharashtra
A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked police officers who were appointed as nodal officers to handle mob lynching to be given charge of alleged attacks on Kashmiris. The CJI also asked the home ministry to widely publicise the names and numbers of these officers so they could be reached immediately.
Supreme Court advocate Tariq Adeeb had filed a petition requesting urgent hearing of the matter. He also mentioned in court the tweets of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy who seemed to agree to the notion of a social boycott of all things Kashmiri.
The matter will be heard again next week.
