The counter-intelligence unit of the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Sunday arrested three persons connected to publishing companies over the publication and circulation of two books that allegedly glorify separatists and militant leaders.
Earlier this month, the books titled ‘Personalities and Legends of J&K’ and ‘Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir’ were withdrawn from school libraries, and action was taken against officials from the Union Territory’s School Education Department — eight suspended and one contractual employee terminated from service.
On Sunday, J&K Police arrested Inderpaul Singh from Oberoi Book Service, Jammu, and Amardeep Singh and Girish Arora from the Noida-based Dominant Publishers. Officials said the arrests followed a coordinated operation by counter-intelligence officers at both places.
Officials said the publishers’ role in the “highly inappropriate content” found in the books was under scrutiny.
After the books were withdrawn from school libraries, the J&K Police had registered a case under BNS sections 49 (abetment of an offence), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 152 (endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India), 196 (promoting enmity, disharmony) and 353 (publishing, or circulating false statements, rumours, or reports), besides section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Pointing out that counter-intelligence personnel of the J&K Police had conducted searches on the premises of both the publication houses on July 6, officials said that investigations are in progress,
As many as 251 copies of the books had been distributed in Jammu, Ramban, Udhampur and Baramulla districts of J&K, and all the copies have been “withdrawn”.
The government had also ordered a high-level inquiry into the matter.
The action followed objections raised by the BJP, Congress, and other political groups, who claimed that the books glorified separatism.
One of the books purportedly calls Maqbool Bhat, co-founder of the separatist Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, who was hanged in Tihar Jail on two murder charges, a martyr.
It also purportedly describes separatist political leader and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party founder-president Shabir Shah as “one of the highest profile campaigners for Kashmiri independence, who campaigned for self-determination in Kashmir since the late 1960s and had spent much of his life in Indian jails”.
