A Kashmiri Muslim has been charged with sedition for posting or sharing a comment on Facebook, calling on India to withdraw from the Indian-held Kashmir, the New York Times has reported.
Tauseef Ahmad Bhat, 29, a Kashmiri engineer who works for a mobile company in Chhattisgarh was arrested this week for “liking, sharing and posting anti-India content on Facebook,” the report said quoting a police official.
The disputed state of Kashmir has erupted in violence after Indian security forces killed a young Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Wani on July 8.
Since then, more than 50 people, including women and children have been killed during protest rallies.
Hundreds others are at the risk of losing their eye-sight after being hit by pellets fired directly at them by Indian troops using pellet guns.
Many analysts have compared the recent wave of violence and growing voice of freedom from Kashmir to one of the severest mass moments in recent years which have killed more than 100,000 people.
The recent wave of protest has intensified calls for freedom and demand for Indian forces to leave the valley.
Bhat had called for India to leave Kashmir and had shown flags of China and Pakistan flying in the background, according to the report, citing complaint against him.
Another post, displayed a caricature of a hand with a broom, shooing away a mouse rendered in the colors of the Indian flag, with the caption, “Get out from Kashmir”.
According to the complaint filed against him, Bhat also posted comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Charges against Bhat is purely on the basis of his comments on the Facebook and there he has not been found to be involved in another activity.
Bhat has a master’s degree in engineering.
Kashmiris are now increasingly using social media to vent their anger against the Indian atrocities and promote calls for freedom from Indian yoke.