Mehbooba asks politicians, media not to pronounce verdict on

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today asked politicians and the media not to pronounce verdict on the students accused of raising anti-national slogans on the JNU campus, saying it should be left for the court to decide.
"I hope that Constitution will be followed in the JNU issue. It should be left to the court as to who is guilty and who is not. Political parties should stop advocating someone's innocence or guilt," Mehbooba told reporters here.
"It should be left to the court (to decide). Politicians and the media should not pronounce their verdict on them," she said when asked about her reaction to alleged raising of anti-national slogans on February 9 on the JNU campus.

The PDP president also said the issue has been politicised.
"Why was the doctored video aired? Then politicians started jumping in. The issue went from bad to worse when people started claiming themselves as nationalists and proving the other side as anti-nationals," Mehbooba said.
She also noted that the country's democracy was strong enough to see through the attempts at fooling the people in the name of secularism or exploiting psuedo-nationalism, and "people will not allow it to succeed".

The PDP chief also said apprehending possible harassment, she had asked two senior leaders, Haseeb Drabu and Amitabh Mattoo, to visit JNU to find out if there was any such incident against the students from Jammu and Kashmir there.

"I asked Haseeb Drabu and Amitabh Mattoo to visit the JNU. They went yesterday and met the Vice Chancellor, and there is another meeting today. There are lots of apprehensions about possible harassment. So far, there has not been complaint that any Kashmiri student has been targeted," she said.
She also asked her party leaders to take up with the Union Home Minister any issues concerning the students from the state at the JNU.
"I request the Government of India to ensure that the situation, which is already bad in Jammu and Kashmir, does not have a negative impact here," she added.