Dehradun: Medical College student held for making offensive comments on Pulwama attack

Dehradun: In a stringent action against a student posting objectional comments on social media related to the Pulwama attack, cops have recently arrested a medical student hailing from Kashmir.

The case relates to a first-year medical student, Keshar Rashid. Rashid was a student of radiology and imaging technology from a private medical college in Dehradun.

Shortly after the CRPF personnel were attacked and killed on Thursday via suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, Rashid had allegedly made insensitive and communal posts on social media. His comment in a Facebook post reads, “Aaj to real PUBG ho gaya (PUBG turned real today)".

PUBG is an online game where players in battle dress (military uniform) fight to remain alive. It is also known as Unknown's Battlegrounds.

The student commented while talking to a fellow student on the social networking site. He further made other remarks that were unaccepted by his friend, who asked him to apologize.

Chaos and tension in the area developed after Rashid’s friend took screenshots of the chat and posted in the official group of the college. The screenshots went viral. Many organizations protested in front of the institution on Friday and demanded action against the student.

The college issued a show-cause notice to the student and asked him why he should not be booked for his ‘seditious’ comment and also be terminated from the college.

“You are suspended as of now. You have been given a chance to raise your clarification in front of a probe committee,” the university registrar wrote in the notice.

According to News18, BJP legislator Rajkumar Thukral had filed a complaint against Rashid at Premnagar police station. The case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the police on Saturday arrested Rashid.

The complaint alleged that the accused had attempted to provoke communal tension by making defamatory comments on Facebook and WhatsApp, reports ANI.

Prior to the arrest, large police force was deployed in the colleges and also in the vicinity of Nanda Ki Chowki – in the outskirts of Capital where a large number of private colleges are located.

The police said they are keeping an eye on the situation.

“The action (against the student), if necessary, will be taken as per law,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nivedeta Kukreti told News18.

Dehradun attracts a large number of students from Kashmir. “The police keep records of the students and ensures their verification regularly,” Kukreti added.

Also Read: Kolkata Medical College: Medical Intern accused medical student of rape