“The unity of India is not made of bamboo reeds which will bend to the passing winds of empty slogans,” said the Allahabad High Court as it granted bail to three Kashmiri students who are arrested in Agra last October for allegedly hailing the Pakistan cricket team’s victory over India in a T-20 cricket match.
A first information report had been lodged against Arsheed Yousuf, Inayat Altaf Sheikh and Showkat Ahmed Ganai for allegedly posting a WhatsApp status praising Pakistani players after the country defeated India in the T20 World Cup cricket match. They had been in jail since October 27, 2021.
While granting them bail on March 30, Justice Ajay Bhanot said: “The foundations of our nation are more enduring. Eternal ideals bind the indestructible unity of India. Constitutional values create an indissoluble union of India. Every citizen of the country is the custodian, and the state is the sentinel of the unity of India and the constitutional values of the nation.”
Justice Bhanot also stated that “students travelling freely to different parts of the country in the quest for knowledge is the true celebration of India’s diversity and a vivid manifestation of India’s unity.” It is the duty of the people of the hosting State to create enabling conditions for visiting scholars to learn and to live the constitutional values of our nation, the court observed.
It is also the obligation of the young scholars to imbibe and adhere to such values, the court added.
