Mumbai: The police will not act against the woman who displayed a 'Free Kashmir' poster at a protest here if her intention was to demand freeing the Valley from the current situation as doing so is not an "anti-India" view, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Wednesday.
The woman, Mehak Prabhu, while taking part in an anti-JNU violence protest at the Gateway of India here earlier this month, had held aloft the 'Free Kashmir' placard, drawing a lot of public attention and a police case.
Though Prabhu had later apologised for her act, the Colaba police had booked her under IPC section 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration).
Asked about it, Deshmukh said, "We saw her WhatsApp messages. In that she had said there was no Internet, mobile services, opposition leaders were arrested there (J&K). Whether she wanted freedom from such a situation? It could also be her intention."
Deshmukh said initially the home department felt Prabhu may have held an "anti-India" view.
"But we are also probing whether she had the other intention. If she felt that she wanted Kashmir to be freed from the present situation then there is nothing wrong in it and it is not anti-national.
"There is no question of acting against her if her intention is not anti-national," he added.
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