Feb 14, 2019, is an important marker in Haris Manzoor’s life.
In the 9 months since that day, Manzoor has become a changed man. He is religious & prays 5 times a day. He rarely steps out of his home. &, unusually for a 20-year-old, he’s no longer on any social networking sites.
“My faith has taught me the patience to cope with what happened,” says Manzoor, a Kashmiri nursing student in Bengaluru from Dahama village in Kupwara district & a recipient of the PM’s Special Scholarship Scheme.
On Feb 16, 2 days after the terror attack in Pulwama, Manzoor was arrested on charges of sedition along with 2 of his friends, Gowhar Mushtaq & Zakir Maqbool, for an argument on Facebook with a classmate over the incident.
After spending 7 months in Bengaluru’s Central Jail, Manzoor was released on bail on Sept 20, & is struggling to get his life back.
He remains suspended from Spurthy College of Nursing, & his PM’s scholarship has stopped. &, in between writing to the government to restore his scholarship & pleading with the college to revoke his suspension & marking attendance at a police station, Manzoor attends court hearings to prove he isn’t guilty of sedition.
“When we filed a complaint with the police, we didn’t know this would become a case of sedition,” says Babu Dharmaraja, principal of Spurthy College of Nursing. Manzoor was studying in the 2nd year of the BSc (Nursing) programme, & Mushtaq (22) was pursuing a general degree in nursing at the time of the arrest. Maqbool (24) was a student of the Chinai College of Nursing.
“Their (Manzoor & Mushtaq) academic performance was fine, & so was their behaviour. There was no disciplinary action against them till that day of the incident,” says the principal.
The incident that Dharmaraja refers to took place on the evening of Feb 14, shortly after the news of the Pulwama terror attack broke. A 3rd-year student of the college posted a few messages on Facebook seeking revenge for the attack that led to an argument with Manzoor, Maqbool & Mushtaq.
The next day a scuffle broke out between the students in the college mess. On Feb 16, the 3 students & Debnath were summoned to the principal’s office. “Till that point, it was just a fight between students. We were surprised when the college called the police on campus,” says Manzoor.
Within a few hours, the principal filed a complaint with the police requesting “appropriate legal action” against Manzoor & his friends Mushtaq & Maqbool for “sending messages abusing our Indian army & disrupting national integration”.
Justifying the administration’s decision to call the police, Dharmaraja says “people were protesting outside our college”. “There were rumours that Kashmiri students of our college were celebrating the attack. We had to call the police to control the situation & protect our other (Kashmiri) students,” he says.
‘Who expects this to happen’
Speaking to News Agency at his lawyer’s office in Bengaluru, Manzoor says he still remembers “the moment when the police officers were taking my mug shots while I held up a slate with my details”. “I had only seen that in the movies. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me,” he says.
In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, many Kashmiri students across the country were either expelled or suspended from their colleges, & some were even accused of sedition for their allegedly anti-national remarks on social media.
Since he was arrested during college hours, Manzoor was still in his uniform when he was brought to Bengaluru’s Central Jail, he recalls. “Who expects such a thing to happen to them. We spent the 1st few days crying inconsolably in prison” he says.
“The enormity of the problem sank in once we found out what we were accused of. We found out about the sedition charges only a week later when my brother visited us in prison,” says Manzoor. His brother Mudassir had to abandon his studies midway in Pune to spend 7 months in Bengaluru to help his brother get out of prison.
According to Manzoor, it was then that the 3 men turned to their faith for help. “The prison authorities were nice to us. The fellow prisoners gave us books to read. We read the Quran & Sahih al-Bukhari. We started praying 5 times a day. That helped us gain patience & remain hopeful of getting bail,” he says.
While their 1st application was rejected in March, the court accepted their plea on Sept 20. “Except the Facebook conversation between friends, no other serious allegation is made against accused No. 1 to 3. Considering the age of accused No. 1 to 3 & the fact that they are pursuing their studies, I feel that in the interest of the future of the accused No. 1 to 3, they deserve to be enlarged on bail with stringent conditions as they hail from Jammu & Kashmir,” states the bail order issued by the additional district & sessions court.
Bail was granted on the condition that each would furnish a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each & cash surety of Rs 25,000 each. Besides, they cannot leave the jurisdiction of the court; have to compulsorily mark attendance at a police station every month; & should attend all court hearings. The next hearing is on Monday.
‘Feel like I’ve grown up suddenly’
Since he cann't go back to Kashmir till his case is disposed, Manzoor’s father, a govt school teacher in Kupwara, has been bearing his living expenses. Along with Maqbool & Mushtaq, he spends most of his time in their apartment in Bengaluru.
“We lived together in a prison cell for 7 months. We no longer feel the need to step out. We keep each other company,” says Manzoor, adding that they also prefer to stay indoors as they fear being attacked outside. Both Mushtaq & Maqbool declined to comment.
Manzoor has approached his college four times since his release to request revocation of his suspension. “I am ashamed of my unintentionally mischievous activity… The incident has caused havoc to my family & I request you to consider my repentance as a positive step towards my career by helping me resume my studies further,” reads an email he wrote to the college’s Registrar on Nov 7.
“We had to suspend them because there was an First Information Report (FIR) against them. We have forwarded their request to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Services (the affiliating university). We have no objection in taking them back, but we need the university’s permission,” says Dharmaraja.
Spurthy College of Nursing now asks students to sign an undertaking that they will be “solely responsible” for their “involvement in any kind of undesirable/ indisciplinary/ anti-social” activities & social media posts & they shouldn't expect any support from their college in such cases. The college currently has 19 Kashmiri students — no new Kashmiri student has taken admission in the current academic year.
Asked about Manzoor’s scholarship, AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabuddhe says, “I will get this checked & find out & inform. But if the sedition charges were not proved & if this college is cancelling the admission, we will take this up with the college & try to help the student. Either there or elsewhere.”
Asked about how the events of Feb 14 had changed him, Manzoor says, “I try to not think of what happened to me. But yes, I think I have changed. I used to be arrogant, but I now believe in a higher power & feel closer to the Almighty. I feel like I have grown up suddenly… My main focus now is to finish my graduation & prepare for civil services exam.”
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