An Indian court granted bail Wednesday to three students jailed for celebrating India’s defeat to arch-rival Pakistan in a T20 World Cup cricket match last year, their lawyer said.
The students were arrested in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in October and charged with sedition just days after Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets in Dubai.
Arsheed Yusuf, Inayat Altaf Sheikh and Showkat Ahmed Ganai, studying at an engineering college in the city of Agra, allegedly posted “objectionable content” on social media and chanted “anti-India” slogans, local media reported.
They all hail from Indian-administered Kashmir, where anti-India sentiment is widespread in a Muslim-majority region disputed for decades between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Days after the match Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, said anyone celebrating Pakistan’s victory would be charged with sedition.
Police launched other investigations in Kashmir after several hundred students also celebrated the defeat.
Anger against Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi’s government has simmered since August 2019 after it revoked the disputed region’s semi-autonomous status.
