States appoint nodal officers for Kashmiri students

New Delhi, April 29

As many as 13 states and union territories have appointed a special nodal police officer each for addressing issues of Kashmiri students studying in their respective territory in the wake of alleged attacks on them.

The states and UTs which have appointed the nodal officer are Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chandigarh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

“There have been reports of attacks on and misbehaviour with Kashmiri students studying in different states.

Appointment of nodal officer for Kashmiri students will give a sense of security and comfort to them,” a Home Ministry official said.

However, a number of states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka, where sizeable number of Kashmiri students study in different institutes, have not responded to the Union Home Ministry’s request for appointing a special police nodal officer.

A group of Kashmiri students was allegedly assaulted in a dental college in Jodhpur early this month in an alleged backlash after the unrest at the NIT in Srinagar. Several students were injured in the incident.

The Home Ministry made the request to states and UTs in the wake of row at NIT, Srinagar.

Delhi Police’s Special Commissioner (Crime) Taj Hasan is the special nodal officer in the national capital. —PTI