Targeting Kashmir’s educated class: Delhi court sends 3 doctors, cleric to 12 days jail
New Delhi: In continuation of a campaign to target Kashmiri professionals, a Delhi court remanded three doctors and a cleric to 12 days of judicial custody in connection with the November 10 Red Fort blast case, despite unsubstantiated allegations.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the four — Dr Muzammil Ganai, Dr Adeel Rather, Dr Shaheena Saeed and Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay — were produced before the expiry of their four-day National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody granted on December 8.
Mediapersons were barred from covering the court proceedings, which were held under tight security in and around the Patiala House district court complex in New Delhi.
As part of what critics describe as a sustained campaign to implicate Kashmiri professionals, the NIA has so far arrested eight individuals in the Red Fort blast case, the majority of them belonging to the educated class from Kashmir.
Human rights groups and legal observers have expressed concern that Indian authorities are increasingly invoking security-related pretexts to target Kashmiri doctors, engineers, and other professionals. They warn that such actions risk criminalizing Kashmir’s educated community, eroding its intellectual standing, and reinforcing a broader narrative that portrays ordinary Kashmiris as security threats.
