SOURCE: PTI
A student activist and ‘independent journalist’ from Kerala has been arrested in Nagpur for allegedly `preparing to wage war against the government of India’, an official said on Thursday. Along with Rejaz M Sheeba Sydeek (26), resident of Edapally in Kerala, his woman friend who lives in Nagpur too was arrested separately, the police said.
Sydeek, on his Instagram account, had condemned Operation Sindoor carried out by Indian Armed Forces against terror targets in Pakistan besides criticizing operations against Naxalites, the First Information Report registered at Lakadganj police station in the city claimed.
Sydeek was arrested on Wednesday under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 149 (preparing to wage war against the government of India), 192 (giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 353 (statements conducing to public mischief) among other provisions.
Along with him, his woman friend who lives in Nagpur as a paying guest too was arrested separately, police said, without giving details of the charges pressed against her.In Sydeek’s bag, the police found a book about professor G N Saibaba who had faced trial for alleged links with Naxalism, and another about Marxism-Leninism, while an English letter seized from his possession appeared to criticize the Indian government for anti-Naxal operations, according to the FIR.
The letter called for “peace talks between the Indian state and the (banned) CPI (Maoist)”.
Sydeek, affiliated to the `Democratic Students Association’, was visiting the city to meet a friend on his way back to Kerala from Delhi when he was arrested, the association’s Kerala state committee member Niharika Pradaush told PTI.
He writes for outlets including `Maktoob Media’ and `The Observer Post’, covering stories related to caste discrimination, communal violence, state repression and the rights of marginalized communities, she said.
He had gone to Delhi to attend a press conference organised by activists to demand the release of incarcerated journalists in India, Pradaush added.