Cops finally act on court directive following alleged anti-India speeches by the duo in the Capital last month

Delhi police books Roy, Geelani for sedition

Cops finally act on court directive following alleged anti-India speeches by the duo in the Capital last month

The suspense is finally over. On Monday, Delhi police lodged an FIR against Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani and writer-activist Arundhati Roy under sections of sedition. The case was filed at the Tilak Marg police station in New Delhi.

"We have registered an FIR under sections 124 A (sedition), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153 B (imputations, assertions, prejudicial to national integration), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC and Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act," said a police officer.

A Delhi court on Nov 27, on the complaint of Sushil Pandit, a member of the Roots in Kashmir organisation, ordered the registration of an FIR against hardline Hurriyat leader Geelani, Roy and five others for allegedly making anti-India speeches.

Pandit filed a complaint Oct 28 at the Tilak Marg police station against Geelani, Roy and others, and demanded that an FIR be registered against them for their alleged anti-India speeches at a seminar "Azadi - the only Way".

Geelani's son returns

Last week Syed Ali Shah Geelani's elder son returned home from Pakistan after 12 years. Naeem Geelani, a doctor by profession, joined his father and other family members a day before Eid. Along with his wife and two children, Naeem had been living in Pakistan for nearly 10 years. He suffered a massive heart attack in 2009 and was operated upon in Islamabad. Ostensibly under threat from militant groups inimical to his father's Jamat-e-Islami and the pro-government militants commonly known as Ikhwanis, he left Kashmir in 1999. Sources close to the family said Naeem's decision to return came after his heart attack.

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