J&K: Police slap UAPA on those 'misusing' social media platforms

Security remains a concern in J&K.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has invoked the serious Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against people who used social media through proxy servers by breaching internet firewalls, The Indian Express has reported.

An FIR was filed by the police a day after a video of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was found circulating on social media.

In a statement, the police said the Cyber Police Station in Srinagar has taken “serious note of misuse of social media” and registered a Case FIR against various social media users, “who defied government orders”.

“The FIR has been registered while taking cognizance of social media posts by miscreants by use of different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario of the Kashmir valley, propagating secessionist ideology and glorifying terror acts/terrorists,” the statement said further.

The Centre had recently partially restored Internet services in the Valley after a six-month communication clampdown post-abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the government gave access to only over 1400 ‘whitelisted’ websites while banning the use of all social media and peer-to-peer applications. Besides, only 2G services are available at the moment, and the ban on 3G and 4G services has been extended till February 24.

The FIR has been registered under Section 13 of UAPA, Sections 188 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 66-A(b) of the IT Act, the newspaper has reported.

Reacting to the slapping of UAPA against social media users, AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi threw a jibe at Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He said:

Kashmir mein sab kuch normal hai, haina?

Everyday there is new proof of how little @AmitShah understood Kashmir (or apparently, how VPN technology works). So, now they try to set new world records of cruelty, incompetence & humiliation https://t.co/G0E8aBkbYG — Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) February 18, 2020