An FIR was registered against SAR Gilani and others under section 124a (Sedition) for hailing Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru in Jawaharlal Nehru University and Press Club of India.
Press Club of India also issued a show-cause notice a day after a group shouted slogans hailing Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s “martyrdom” during a press conference on its premises. The members had booked the conference hall for the event.
“At the outset, we strongly condemn the incident that happened on Press Club premises by miscreants yesterday. We have taken strong action against the member under whose signature the conference hall was hired. A show-cause notice has been served and further action will follow,” Secretary General of the Press Club, Nadeem Ahmad Kazmi, said.
When contacted, Professor Ali Javed of Delhi University, the member of the club who had booked the premises for the presser, distanced himself from the event, saying he does not “approve” of the sloganeering and that in any case he “was not one of the organisers”.
“I condemn provocative anti-India slogans and terror ideology. I do not consider Afzal Guru to be a martyr. When they started chanting slogans, I tried to stop them. I never imagined that the event would take such a turn. I was told it would be a discussion on the Kashmir issue,” Javed said.
During the presser organised by the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners yesterday, a number of scholars and academics protested against the “judicial killing” of Guru and execution of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Mohammad Maqbool Butt.
The meet was addressed by former DU lecturer SAR Geelani, who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case, through video conference.
“We are now taking action against persons responsible for the untoward incident and reviewing the entire process of booking of our premises (for events),” Kazmi said.
