Daijiworld Media Network

Hyderabad, Aug 21: Three students hailing from Kashmir have been booked under the Section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, as they did not stand up while the National Anthem was playing at a movie hall in Hyderabad on Saturday.

The students identified as Jameel Gul, Omer Faiz Luney and Mudassir Shabbir, from Baramulla in J&K, are currently studying BTech in the Al-Habeeb College of Engineering.

According to P V Padmaja, deputy commissioner of Police, Shamshabad zone, the students had visited Cinepolis in Mantra mall to watch the 3.50 pm show of the Hindi movie Bareilly Ki Barfi on Saturday.

As per the Supreme Court directions, the National Anthem was played, for which the trio didn’t stand up.

It is said that a senior cop who too had come to watch the movie, noticed the trio disrespecting the National Anthem and informed the Rajendra Nagar police.

A complaint against them was lodged on behalf of the theatre management.

Sources reveal that the students were questioned till late in the night and their residences in Tolichowki were raided as police suspected them to be involved in anti-national activity. They have been let off on bail.

Meanwhile, the students have denied the charges against them. The incident, has sparked sparked protests from Old City-based political outfit Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT). “They stood up when the National Anthem was playing. They were arrested after a police officer, who was also present at the theatre, levelled false charges against them,” said MBT spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan.