Srinagar, Jan 8: A day after families of the youth arrested for allegedly threatening the all-girls rock band Pragaash vouched for innocence of their wards, police Friday refused to divulge the exact text of the ‘threat comments.’
A top police official supervising the investigations told Greater Kashmir that he could not divulge the exact text of the comments. “It will affect the investigations,” he said. But he said police had the “required evidence” to book the youth under section 66A of the IT Act and 506 of RPC.
The official said that during the investigation into the case, the inquiry team found that 957 people posted their comments on the picture of the girls band on the social networking site Facebook. “Out of these, less than 10 comments are intimidating,” he claimed.
The first comment has been posted on December 24 last year. “I can’t say whether anybody else would be arrested or not, as accused persons could have commented more than once,” the official said.
The top police official said that the case has been registered on the complaint of State through SHO Rajbagh.
The official said the accused youth- Tariq, Rameez and Irshad -were first booked under 66A IT Act and later the investigation was brought under 153 A RPC- promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.
Tariq Majid Khan son of Abdul Majid Khan of SK Colony, Islamabad (Anantnag), has completed his post-graduation in English Literature. Rameez Ahmad Shah son of Muhammad Shafi Shah of Baba Wayil Gutli Bagh, Ganderbal, is a class 12 student and Irshad Ahmad Chara son of Abdul Ahad Chara of SD Colony, Batamaloo, Srinagar is a graduate and works as a cable operator.
The accused were remanded to police custody for nine days by a local court. The remand was granted by court of Sub-Registrar Srinagar, Manzoor Ahmad Zargar, after they were produced before it Thursday
Pertinently, in November last year, in a similar case in Mumbai, some senior police officers were transferred for arresting two girls who had commented on the death of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. The arrests were made in Palghar area of Mumbai under 66A IT Act for questioning the bandh in the city following Thackeray's death.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 8 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 8 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST