Cops book Shopian teachers under PSA

Srinagar: In an unprecedented development, police have booked three school teachers at the Imam Sahib Village of Shopian in South Kashmir for allegedly radicalising their students; however, the management of the school has refuted the charges and said that they were being implicated in a false case.

IGP Police Kashmir range Vijay Kumar told the media that the school came under the lens of the agencies after they found that its 13 students and alumni have joined the ranks of terrorists. Under the Public Safety Act (PSA), these school teachers can be kept in jail for one year or up to two years without any formal charges framed against them by police.

Police said that they have enough evidence against these three teachers “for spreading hatred while teaching”. A senior police officer of South Kashmir identified the school as Siraj-uloom Imam Sahib, allegedly affiliated to the banned Jamaat-e-Islami outfit. First, the school came under the intelligence radar when they found an alumnus of the same school, Sajad Ahmad Bhat, involved in a massive car blast at Pulwama in which more than 40 CRPF jawans were killed. Police have identified these three teachers booked under the PSA as Abdul Ahad Bhat, Rouf Bhat and Mohammad Yusuf Wani. While briefing the press in Srinagar, IGP Kashmir range disclosed that half a dozen other teachers of the school were under surveillance.

He said that action under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has also been taken against six other teachers after getting intelligence feedback against them.

Refuting the allegations, Muhammad Yousuf Matoo, chairperson of the school, told the media, “Some of the students who had become terrorists had already left us and were home for a long period before joining the terrorist ranks.”