J&K doc, wife charge-sheeted under UAPA for spreading ‘secessionist content’ on social media

SRINAGAR: The J&K Police on Wednesday filed a chargesheet under the UAPA against a doctor and his wife for allegedly misusing social media platforms to disseminate secessionist and misleading content.

The chargesheet was filed by the police’s Counter-Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) wing before the special NIA court against Dr Umer Farooq Bhat of Kulgam and his wife, Shahzada Akther, who were arrested last year.

In a statement, the CIK said a case was earlier filed against the couple at its police station in Srinagar under sections of BNS and UAPA after “credible and reliable information indicating that Shahzada Akther, in a well-planned criminal conspiracy with members of the proscribed terrorist organization Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and in active connivance with her husband Dr Umer Farooq Bhat, was involved in the deliberate creation and dissemination of false, fabricated, and distorted narratives regarding the situation in Kashmir”.

The content disseminated by them was aimed at “promoting secessionist and separatist sentiments, fostering disaffection, hatred, and enmity against the Union of India,” it said.