GoI directs monitoring of harassment of Kashmiri students studying outside

Asks JK govt to take up issue with state govts

Government of India (GoI) has directed Jammu and Kashmir government to regularly follow the complaints of harassment of Kashmiri students studying outside with the concerned state governments.
In the directive issued by Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), J&K government has been asked to regularly take up the cases of harassment of the Kashmiri students with the concerned Director Generals of Police (DGPs) and Chief Secretaries (CSs) of state governments.
The MHA has directed the J&K Home Department and police to regularly follow the complaints.
The (GoI) has also conveyed the names of Nodal Officers, who have been designated by different states to look into the complaints.
“We have asked the DGP and Chief Secretary to regularly take a feedback from the concerned state governments about the progress of complaints,” said a top official of MHA.
He said all states have not designated Nodal Officers and matter has been taken up with them.
“We are pursuing the matter of designation of the Nodal Officers with different states and the mechanism of probing the complaints will be fully in place in a week’s time,” the MHA official said.
The directive to the state government comes after the cases of harassment of the Kashmiri students outside the State.
Principal Secretary Home, R K Goyal, confirmed that MHA has written to the state government over the issue.
He said the steps are being taken to ensure security of the students studying outside the state.
In March this year four Kashmiri students were beaten up in a private university in Rajasthan over rumors that they were cooking beef in their hostel room.
After being attacked, they were arrested by the police for “disturbing peace”.
The incident took place at Mewar University in Chittorgarh, about five hours from state capital Jaipur.
The Kashmiri students were also attacked in Mohali and Chandigarh and political parties including the Congress had taken a strong note of this.
Former Chief Minister and Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had taken up the issue with Punjab CM, Prakash Singh Badal.
“The concerns about the safety of students are in the wake of the fact that a large number of students from J&K are studying outside the state under the Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scehme (PMSS),” said an official.