Shahgund (Bandipora, Jammu and Kashmir): With the bail plea of her youngest son going unheard since his arrest by the Uttar Pradesh police on October 28, Hafeeza is losing both hope and her appetite. Her soft voice betrays the dejection and anger writ large on her face.
“Pakistan won the match but my son is being punished for it,” Hafeeza, a middle-aged housewife, says, basking in the winter sun on a small veranda of their ramshackle home in the north Kashmir village of Shahgund, one of the poorest in J&K.
Then, after a long pause, she continues: “His exam will begin on January 3 but after spending two months in jail, how will he write his papers now?”
Showkat Ahmad Ganie, 22, a final-year BTech student at Uttar Pradesh’s Raja Balwant Singh Engineering and Technical College (RBSETC), a private college affiliated with Agra University, was put in jail four days after Pakistan defeated India in the 2021 T20 Cricket World Cup at Dubai International Stadium on October 24.
After the match was over, some Hindu rightwing activists barged into RBSETC campus and also complained to the Uttar Pradesh police that the Kashmiri students at the college had shouted anti-India slogans after India’s loss. The college administration has vehemently denied the charges.
However, the Uttar Pradesh Police filed an FIR, invoking IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 505 (creating or publishing content to promote enmity), and arrested three Kashmiri students, including Showkat. The other two students arrested in the case are Arshid Paul, a resident of Hardi Tchokpora village, and Inayat Altaf Sheikh, who lives in Dooenwoor village, both in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
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A day after their arrest, the three students were produced before a magistrate and later shifted to Agra jail. The UP Police added Section 124A (sedition) to the FIR after chief minister Yogi Adityanath said that those celebrating Pakistan’s victory will have to face sedition charges.
Back in Kashmir, the economically downtrodden families of the three students are at their wits’ end to figure out how to get them released. All the three students’ families fall under the below poverty line category. The students are the first members in their families who have pursued professional degrees. They could afford private education because of a scholarship scheme funded by the Union government for Kashmir’s underprivileged students.
A resident of Shahgund’s Lone Mohalla, Showkat is the youngest among four children of Mohammad Shaban Ganie, a landless, poor labourer who makes a living by working odd jobs. His earnings often fall short in meeting the expenses of his family of six, which includes two sons and two daughters.
Parvez Ahmad, Showkat’s brother, dropped out of school to support his family. Photo: Jehangir Ali
The family lives in a crumbling, single-storied house whose rusted roof, broken windows and the main door’s busted metal mesh tell a story of poverty. Shaban’s wife looked after a cow to support the family. “My husband and I endured hardships so that our children do not suffer, but look what destiny had in store for us,” says Hafeeza.
Arshid Paul, the second student arrested in the case, is an orphan and the eldest among three siblings. He is the only member across his extended family of two uncles, their four sons and two daughters, and more than a dozen cousins who appeared set to complete a graduate degree in engineering, his uncle Yasin Paul told The Wire.
The residence of Arshid in Hardi Tchokpora village which is shared by more than two dozen members of the Paul family. Photo: Jehangir Ali
“In the beginning, we couldn’t find a lawyer to fight the case. Now the court isn’t hearing our applications. With elections set to take place in Uttar Pradesh next year, we are fearing the worst,” says Shabir Ahmad, uncle of Inayat, the third student arrested in the case
The stringent charges of sedition, which can lead to life imprisonment in the case of conviction, and the communally polarised atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh have cast dark clouds on the future of the three students, giving sleepless nights to their families who fear that their sons might become fodder for the political parties ahead of the UP assembly elections.
Like the other two families, Showkat’s parents came to know about his arrest through social media. “I don’t have a regular income. My eldest son dropped out of school to support the family. I had to borrow money from relatives and neighbours to be able to go to UP and meet him,” says Shaban.
Shahgund is one of the poorest villages in J&K, with one of the lowest literacy rates in the region. Photo: Jehangir Ali
Unlike Shaban’s two elder children, who dropped out of school, Showkat was a bright student from an early age. He was among the toppers in his school, his father said. “Unlike other boys of his age, he is not the outgoing type. He rarely comes out of home and instead spends time in studies,” Shaban says. Shaban’s younger daughter is pursuing a diploma course in ophthalmology.
Shahgund, where the family lives, is a large, underdeveloped village in Bandipora district comprising about 1,000 households. It is one of the poorest villages in J&K with a low literacy rate of about 40%, compared to J&K’s 67% average, according to the 2011 Census. As poverty dictates the way of life for the villagers, Showkat was held up as a role model for the younger generation in his neighbourhood.
“He is a bright student. I have never seen him roaming on the roads unnecessarily. He is cited as an example of what hard work can achieve, even though we may lack financial resources,” says Manzoor Ahmad, a grocer who lives in Showkat’s neighbourhood.
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Before his arrest, the college administration had spoken to Shaban about Showkat’s “outstanding” academic achievements, and also promised that he was going to land a job “very soon”. “He is among the favourite students of his teachers. I was very happy that my life’s investment is starting to bear fruit and we may see good days ahead,” he says.
“We were making preparations for the marriage of our daughter,” his wife Hafeeza chips in, breaking down into tears, as his daughter, who is sitting behind him on the veranda, takes deep sighs in complete silence. “His arrest has come as if a ripe paddy field has been hit by a hailstorm. Our life has turned upside down.”
Showkat. Photo: Jehangir Ali
Speaking with The Wire, senior advocate Madhuvan Dutt, who is representing the three students, said he has filed an application in the Allahabad high court seeking transfer of the case out of Agra and a bail application, but none of the two have been heard so far. Dutt said the application for transfer will come up for hearing on December 22. “The charges against the students can’t be made out. The court was unable to hear the case on the previous date because there were too many applications. I am hopeful that justice will be done with them,” he said, adding that the bail application will be heard on December 23.
But with days turning into weeks and now months, Hafeeza, Showkat’s mother, is growing increasingly restless. Unable to bear the expenses for meeting the cost of Showkat’s legal battle, his family was forced to sell off their cow, which sustained the family. The money raised from the sale was enough to include the cost of Shaban’s one-time return journey to Uttar Pradesh to meet the lawyer and his son.
“Once in a while he speaks to us from jail over the phone. All he wants to know is when he is going to walk out. Is this punishment not enough?” Shaban said. “If he unknowingly made a mistake, we have apologised for it. Why isn’t anyone listening?“