Engineering student sentenced to 5-year imprisonment for celebrating Pulwama attack
A special Bengaluru court sentenced an engineering student to a five-year jail term for making disparaging Facebook posts about the Pulwama attack, ANI reported. The order was passed by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge Gangadhara CM. According to reports, Faiz Rasheed, a resident of Kacharaknahalli in Bengaluru, has been imprisoned since his arrest in February 2019 after his bail applications were rejected.
Why does this story matter?
The Pulwama attack was the worst terrorist attack in which at least 40 CRPF soldiers were killed in a blast that happened in the Awantipora area of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. The responsibility for the blast--reportedly triggered by an IED--was claimed by the terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)--sparking international outrage. According to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the plan was hatched in Pakistan.
Rasheed 'celebrated' terrorist attack on Facebook
Rasheed, who was a third-semester engineering student, was arrested over his Facebook posts updated on February 14, 2019. His posts allegedly celebrated the killings of 40 CRPF soldiers in the attack in J&K. His posts triggered outrage after and later police seized his phone and sent it for investigation by a forensic science lab.
Charged under UAPA, various IPC sections
Meanwhile, the chargesheet was filed in accordance with various sections of the Indian Penal Code, (IPC) including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion), 124A (sedition) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
What is Pulwama attack incident?
As per reports, the attack on the CRPF convoy took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14, 2019, in which 40 personnel died. NIA officials had claimed that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus. The convoy had 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were traveling from Jammu to Srinagar.
Attack triggered shock, outrage
Soon after the incident, the entire country was shrouded in gloom. Global condemnation and condolences poured in, as did calls for strict action and a "war on terrorism." The Indian Air Force carried out multiple aerial strikes on JeM terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot a few days after the attack, killing a "large number" of terrorists and destroying their infrastructure.
MHA designated mastermind as terrorist under UAPA
The mastermind of the Pulwama attack was named by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in April this year. According to the MHA notification dated April 11, 2022, JeM's Mohiuddin Aurangzeb Alamgir is named as a key conspirator in the 2019 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama and is proposed to be designated as a 'terrorist' under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
