Three Kashmir students, who are already facing sedition charges, have been re-arrested in the Indian state of Karnataka, a police official said on Monday.
Though the students were discharged on submission of bail bonds on Sunday, the police re-arrested them following protests against their release.
According to the police, lawyers, Hindu organisations, and student groups have been staging protests against their release outside police stations since Sunday.
“There were chances of things getting out of hand and an attack on the three students. We re-arrested them in the morning following which they were produced in front of the court and have been sent to judicial custody until 2 March", a senior police officer said on Monday.
The three were previously released under the provisions of Section 169 (Release of accused when evidence is deficient) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Police sources have revealed several Hindu organisation members threw slippers and shoes at them around the court premises in Hubli district, around 400 km from the state capital Bengaluru. Some incriminating evidence against the three has been found.
On 14 February, the three civil engineering students at the KLE Institute of Technology - Talib Majeed, Basit Asif Sofi, and Aamir Mohiuddin Wahi – shared a video on social media in which they were seen chanting pro-Pakistan slogans.
According to the college's authorities, the three students have been suspended from the college, pending investigation, while the district lawyers’ association has passed a resolution saying that no bar member will represent the accused.
On 14 February 2019, a suicide bomber belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad rammed a convoy of troops on the main highway in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 40 members of India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
The attack led to a deterioration of relations between India and Pakistan, with the former accusing Islamabad of harbouring Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The incident escalated to a full-fledged aerial clash on 27 February when an Indian MiG-21 Bison was shot down by the Pakistanis, while India claimed that it brought down a Pakistani F-16.