Shia Muslims shout slogans during a protest over the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei amid the restrictions imposed as a precautionary measure, in Sumbal area Bandipora district in North Kashmir on Tuesday, on March 3, 2026.
| Photo Credit: IMRAN NISSAR
The J&K Police on Tuesday (March 3, 2026) filed First Information Reports (FIRs) against National Conference leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Aga Syed Ruhullah and former Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu for allegedly “creating fear, disturbing public order, and inciting unlawful activities”.
“The police acted on credible inputs regarding the circulation of false, fabricated and misleading content across digital and social media platforms with the intent to create fear, disturb public order, and incite unlawful activities and has registered cases against Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and Junaid Azim Mattu in connection with the matter,” a police spokesperson said.
The police claimed that the content in question, prima facie, “reflected dissemination of distorted narratives and unverified information capable of causing public unrest and societal disharmony”.
The police said two FIRs were registered under Sections 197(1)(d) and 353(1)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Cyber Police Station, Srinagar. “Investigation into both cases has been initiated and is underway. Further legal action shall follow as warranted under law,” the police said.
The FIRs came as Kashmir was engulfed in three days of street protests by locals over the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei in an attack on February 28 in Iran. Both Mr. Ruhullah and Mr. Mattu had shared posts on social media handles pertaining to these protests.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Ruhullah said his Facebook account was suspended and his security detail thinned. “Some fools in J&K Police and administration think that by withdrawing or downgrading my security detail and suspending my Facebook account will stop me from calling out their atrocities. It is laughable,” MP Ruhullah said.
He said his father was “martyred standing for his people and that’s what fascinates me”. “I am a citizen of this country and I will exercise my rights to stand up against your atrocities, violation of laws, freedom and democracy given to us by the Constitution, to the last drop of my blood,” MP Ruhullah said.
Mr. Mattu, in a post on X, said his security was “effectively withdrawn with immediate effect”. “A measure aimed to silence me,” Mr. Mattu said.
He claimed the move was in response to his statements on Iran and Ayatullah Syed Ali Khamenei’s martyrdom, and “for speaking against the BJP-led Government’s moral abdication and deafening silence on the issue of the illegitimate barbaric onslaught on Iran by U.S. and Israel”.
He said in a Kashmir today fellow mainstream leaders have “surrendered and sold their tongues to the BJP-led Government and chosen to sound shamefully diplomatic over the assassination of Khamenei and the brutal war on Iran and Palestine”.
“I will continue to commit the crime of having a conscience. Such measures aimed to suppress my voice however won’t stop me from speaking up for humanity, justice and to seek answers about my country’s and its leadership’s unprecedented moral abdication when it comes to Iran,” the former Srinagar mayor said.
Published – March 04, 2026 03:05 am IST
