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The former professor of Arabic at Zakir Hussain College, famed for his political opinions and alleged affiliations, passed away on Thursday, October 24th, following a cardiac arrest.

 

 

Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, aged 50, fell unconscious in a South Delhi gym on the afternoon of October 24th and was rushed to Fortis Hospital. However, Geelani could not be revived and died due to a cardiac arrest, his son Atif confirmed.

 

SAR Geelani was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2001, on suspicion of connection with the Parliament Attack case. He was sentenced to death by a special Sessions court on charges of abetting terrorism. However, this conviction was set aside by the Delhi High Court in 2003, on account of flimsy, insufficient evidence. The decision was upheld by the apex court in 2005. Though the Supreme Court ratified the high court’s decision, it said it remained “suspicious of his (Geelani’s) role”.

In 2005, after his acquittal, he was shot at when he was en route to meet his lawyer. After this incident, he came under the protection of the Delhi Police.

 

In the aftermath of his arrest and subsequent vindication, Geelani gave an appalling and explicit account of his interrogation and torture at the hands of Delhi Police and intelligence agencies in Nitya Ramakrishnan’s book, In Custody: Law, Impunity and Prisoner Abuse in South Asia. The interview unveiled the alleged systemic maltreatment of prisoners and undercover operations of state agencies.

 

In 2016, days after the arrest of student leader, Kanhaiya Kumar for raising alleged anti-national slogans, Geelani was charged with sedition for organizing an event against the execution of Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru.

 

Since Geelani was a protectee of the Delhi Police, his post-mortem was conducted at AIIMS to avoid any ensuing controversial situations or conspiracies.

On Friday afternoon, SAR Geelani’s body was taken to Kashmir so his final rites could be performed in his hometown, Baramulla.

 

 

Image Credits:  Indian Express Archive

 

Prisha Saxena

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The Delhi High Court on Thursday set aside the punishment against 15 students, including ex-Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, awarded by a committee constituted by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Ex-JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, along with 14 other students, had the disciplinary actions taken against them set aside by the Delhi High Court on Thursday. The students had been involved in organising an event commemorating the hanging of Kashmiri separatist Afzal Guru in February 2016, which allegedly saw separatist slogans being raised.

After the uproar over the sloganeering, a five-member committee was constituted by JNU to investigate the matter. Punishments in the form of expulsion from the hostel (Kanhaiya Kumar), rustication (Umar Khalid), and barring entry in the University for five years (Anirban) were awarded to some students. However, the High Court in its judgement that replied to the petition filed by the students against the committee’s orders said, “The writ petition is allowed to the extent that the Appellate Order dated August 22, 2016, is set aside and the matter is remanded back to the Appellate Authority with a direction to grant an opportunity of inspection to the petitioner”. A period of six weeks has been granted for the students to get a chance to present their side regarding the issue and get a view of the official records and basis of the committee’s judgement. After this the committee must declare another judgement, having heard the side of the students.

Although the students had condemned the slogans, sedition cases were filed against some. The Delhi Police is yet to file a charge sheet regarding the February 2016 incident.

 

Feature Image Credits: Zee News

Rishika Singh
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