Supreme Court directs 10 states to ensure safety of Kashmiris living across India

New Delhi: After the widespread protest days after the Pulwama terror attack, the Supreme Court of India, on Friday, directed 10 states and the centre to ensure people from Kashmir living across the country do not face social boycott, harassment or attacks carried out by locals to show their outrage.

The 10 states are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra.

A petition was filed by Supreme Court advocate Tariq Adeeb, on thursday,who along with a request for urgent hearing, also mentioned controversial tweets by Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy who endorsed a call to boycott "everything Kashmiri".

"We came to the Supreme Court after Kashmiri students were attacked in universities... We hope the court order will prevent any further incidents," the petitioner said.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the police officers who were appointed as nodal officers to deal with incidents of mob lynching will now be responsible to deal with cases of alleged assault on Kashmiris.

The court told the Home Ministry to give wide publicity of the nodal officers' contact details so that those who need help can approach them easily.

"The chief secretaries, the DGPs and the Delhi Police Commissioner are directed to take prompt and necessary action to prevent incidents of threat, assault, social boycott against Kashmiris and other minorities," said the bench.

The court's order was welcomed by former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.

Three days after the Pulwama terror attack, the Home Ministry had directed all the states and Union Territories to ensure the safety of people from Jammu and Kashmir after it received reports of harassment and threats against them, as the nation mourned the deaths of the soldiers.

The court will hear the matter next week again.

The government has said those who disturb peace or spread rumour will face severe punishment. To help the people in need police in many states have launched helplines. The Central Reserve Police Force, has asked people to contact them via a helpline if need arise.