Assistant Professor Booked Under Anti-Terror Law in Kashmir

Dr. Abdul Bari Naik, an Assistant Professor at Government Degree College Udhampur has been booked under the Anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

An official confirming the arrest of Dr. Bari to The Kashmiriyat said he has been booked in an old case. “He was wanted in an FIR, but he had been evading arrest since then,” he said. The Official said that Dr. Bari who had been posted recently at the Udhampur Degree College was picked by Police in the Udhamur area on Friday.

The Kashmiriyat spoke to his brother, Advocate Rouf Naik who said that Dr. Bari was arrested from Udhampur Degree College on Friday by a team of Jammu Kashmir Police. Pleading his innocence, he said, “Bari has been vocal against corruption and other issues that affect the society at the large, he has always been concerned about the people of Kashmir,” he told.

Rouf Naik said that Bari has been booked in an old case (UAPA) and kept under detention in Kulgam district. The family has not been told anything officially as of yet, other than the fact that Bari was arrested from Udhampur. “I have come to know that my brother has been booked in a 2018 related case, which was lodged in Police Station Kulgam under FIR NO. 191/2018 U/S 153, 353, 13 UAPA,” Rouf said.

Dr. Bari as per his brother had been issued a show-cause notice in connection to the case. In his response to the notice, Dr. Bari had written, “I being the citizen and social activist went to Redwani and found that the army trying to grab the area that was directly affecting the educational opportunities and there were chances or desacralizing of a sacred place of the graveyard. I requested the concerned authority either to shill the army camp to some other place or to provide the alternative space Sir the affected areas. So that the constitutional right in terms of the education of our children would not be put at stake. the froth is an act of working against national integration. then this is the reason that an FIR has been lodged against me.”

He has one more UAPA case registered against him under the FIR No 83/2019 U/S 252, 427 RPC 13, 18, 19, 38, 39 UAPA Act P/S Yaripora.

Dr. Bari in his response to the show-cause notice by the District Administration in Kulgam district had written, “FIR has been charged by the army against me related to the case of a youngster from Kadder who has been ruthlessly beaten to the pulp while saving the holy Quran from desacralization during a search operation. Besides, A lot of public property has got damaged by the army. Since. we claim good ties between the army and youth and have to work in support of it. I always support peace and tranquility. Besides I want to minimize the gap between in uniform and youth of Jammu and Kashmir. I raised my voice against this cruel act and released the video of this this is against this injustice is a crime in a democratic nation. then this is the teas raising an FIR has been lodged against me.”

Dr. Bari as per his brother was recently transferred to the Government Degree College in Udhampur from Kulgam. “Dr. Bari was arrested on duty at the College premises in Udhampur on Friday and he was shifted to Kulgam on Saturday,” his brother said.

In August 2018, the Government forces allegedly entered the premises of Government Degree College in Kulgam and fired tear smoke shells inside the college premises after which the students threw at the Government Forces. Bari was posted at the Government Degree College in Kulgam at that time when he was booked for inciting violence on the college campus by the Jammu Kashmir Police.

“I request the students not to pelt stones, they always can fight their battles through the pen, the stones should not be our weapon,” Dr. Abdul Bari who is a Ph.D. scholar from Aligarh Muslim University had told The Kashmiriyat. In the interview with The Kasmhmiriyat Bari had said that he was implicated in the case due to his activism.

(The Kashmiriyat)