Jailed in UP, Kashmiri students struggle to arrange surety for release

Samaan Lateef

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Srinagar, April 1

The family of Arshad Yousuf, one of the three Kashmiri students to have got bail from the Allahabad High Court in a sedition case for allegedly celebrating Pakistan’s win in a cricket match, is now struggling to put forth financial backing to their promise to appear in future court hearings. The 21-year-old, along with Inayat Altaf Sheikh and Showkat Ahmad Ganaie, was arrested after they allegedly put a WhatsApp status, celebrating Pakistan’s win over India in a T20 match. They have been in Agra jail since October 27.

“My nephew will be home and there can’t be a bigger joy for us,” Muhammad Younus Paul said. Paul says the family is now struggling to find six persons with each having Rs 1 lakh in their bank accounts to furnish surety bonds to secure his release. “Until the final verdict of the case, the money will be withheld in the accounts of six people. It’s really difficult to find six persons who can come to my nephew’s rescue,” he said.

Under a surety bond, a witness agrees to pay the fine if the defendant doesn’t appear before the court or breaks bond conditions. “This is too harsh. Usually, court asks for one witness,” said Mir Urfi, a human rights lawyer based in Kashmir.

Arshad lost his father in a road accident when he was one-year-old. He is good at studies and gives hope to his mother and two siblings to bring them out of the cycle of abject poverty. While granting them bail, Justice Ajay Bhanot said, “The unity of India is not made of bamboo reeds which will bend to the passing winds of empty slogans.”

The trio were studying at an Agra engineering college under the PM’s Special Scholarship Scheme. They were arrested after some students protested outside their college over their purported WhatsApp status. The college authorities rusticated them.

Tough time: Kin

A relative of one of the arrested boys says the family is struggling to find six persons with each having Rs 1 lakh in their bank accounts to furnish surety bonds.