New Delhi: IAS officer Shah Faesal and former student leader Shehla Rashid Shora have withdrawn petitions they filed before the Supreme Court challenging the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud today allowed Faesal and Shora to withdraw their petitions and directed that their names be deleted from the list of petitioners.
Shehla Rashid, who has served as vice-president of the students’ union at Jawaharlal Nehru University, rose to prominence during the agitation demanding the release of several student leaders, including Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, arrested on charges of sedition in 2016. Kumar is now a Congress leader. Umar Khalid is in jail in connection with a Delhi riots case. Shehla Rashid later joined Shah Faesal’s party.
In a recent Twitter post, Faesal had said: “Article 370 for many Kashmiris like me, is a thing of the past. Jhelum and Ganga have merged in the great Indian Ocean for good. There is no going back. There is only marching forward.”
