The Kashmir Pulse

JAMMU — Director General of Police (DGP) RR Swain on Thursday said that police have a zero-tolerance policy towards religious disrespect and that they will bring in a law to act stringently against social media offenders.

DGP Swain, as per the news agency KNS in a hurried-called press conference at Jammu said that under 144 CrPC, they will take strict action to cap the dissemination of sensitive content on social media platforms that hurts the religious sentiments of communities.

He said the police have taken strong cognizance of the NIT incident and in future, any such incident will also be dealt with sternly.

He was speaking on NIT Srinagar row where a non-local student had uploaded a derogatory video against Prophet Muhammad (SAW) on social media which led to wide criticism and outrage from the public. "J&K Police respects the dignity of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) undoubtedly. We can't tolerate any disrespect in this regard. Also, we want to clarify that miscreants won't be allowed to exploit the situation and take the law into their hands," DGP Swain said.

He went on to state, "We have taken swift action against the person who made derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad (SAW) and will not tolerate such remarks against such a great personality. Such acts are beyond tolerance and with these acts, we will not let vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in J&K. As soon as we got this information, we took cognisance in no time and filed an FIR against the person.”

DGP appealed to students to concentrate on their studies and don’t indulge in such activities. "We also appeal to the people to help us to maintain law and order. We warn those elements who want to take advantage of these situations to derail peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Police as well as people in general need to be alert at this juncture," he added.

"Regarding the use of social media, we also warn those elements who try to spread misinformation. In coming days, we are also going to launch an awareness campaign about this law so that people indulging in such activities refrain themselves and help us maintain the peaceful atmosphere prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir," the DGP said.

This post first appeared on The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — Much to the expectations of people, the tracer studies by NIT Srinagar have observed that the sinkhole that emerged in the middle of the river bed at Wandevalgam, Kokernag on February 11 this year that disrupted the entire flow of the stream, has an outlet at Achabal.

Achabal is around 16 kilometres away from the sinkhole. Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Dr Piyush Singla, said that there could be other outlets in nearby areas.

"#KokernagSinkhole at Wandevalgam - Tracer studies by NIT Sgr observed-‘Sinkhole has an outlet at Achabal at a distance of 16 km from sinkhole. There could be other outlets in nearby areas’. Interesting inference from interesting phenomenon!" Singla tweeted.

As per the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), in the second week of March, the water level in the springs of the famous Achabal Botanical Garden suddenly swelled, triggering panic among the locals.

Locals had apprehensions that sudden water rise in springs might be the water of the sinkhole, however, officials maintained that only expert opinion in this regard can give clear information about it.

Locals had said that they witnessed such a phenomenon in 1995 when there was a sinkhole in the same Brengi stream and its discharge was found at Achabal which, according to locals, was later filled with sand and boulders.

Around 27 years, the same phenomenon has repeated on 11 February this year another sinkhole emerged in the middle of the stream at Wandevalgam in Kokernag, just a few meters away from the earlier hole disrupting the entire flow of the stream.

It took around one month for the disrupted flow of the stream to reach Achabal springs as the water level rose suddenly in Achabal springs in the second week of March.

It is pertinent to mention here that soon after the sinkhole emerged, experts from the Department of the Earth Sciences, the University of Kashmir and the Geology and Mining department had visited the spot and had suggested measures in this regard.

Experts from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar were also called in to conduct advanced tracer studies and to find the underground water flow who have found now that the sinkhole has an outlet in Achabal.

This post first appeared on The Kashmir Pulse