Jammu: The Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of the J&K Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) and conducted raids in connection with the alleged glorification of separatists in two controversial publications. The two books which have become the reason for controversy are titled ‘Personalities and Legends of J and K’, authored by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena and ‘Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir’, authored by Sushant Giri.
The first of these two booked has been published by Jammu-based Oberoi Book Service and the second by Delhi-based Anurag Prakashan of Darya Ganj. The Oberoi Book Service premises in Bahu Plaza in Jammu have been raided by the police. However, no details regarding any incriminating materials have been released yet. It is also not clear as to what action has been taken, or is being contemplated against the Delhi publisher.
FIR Under UAPA, BNS Provisions
The FIR has been filed under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, besides Sections 49 (abetment), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 152 (endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India), 196 (promoting enmity, disharmony) and 353 (publishing, or circulating false statements, rumors, or reports) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), according to some officials.
These officials said that 123 copies of one of the books were supplied to different schools of Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur districts. At least 128 copies of the other book were supplied to Jammu and Baramulla districts. By an order, all schools have been asked to return these books to designated offices and most of them already complied by Saturday evening itself. Some schools were reportedly in the process of returning these books on Sunday as the matter is being given top priority by senior officials.
During the raid on premises of the publisher, focus was on collecting material relevant to the case, besides seizure of more copies of the book. The investigators have seized both physical documents and digital evidence during the raids.
A couple of days ago, eight officials of the School Education Department were placed under suspension and one contractual staff member was disengaged. The contractual staff member, Shiekh Suheel Ahmad, was assistant to team leader Sidiqqui. An inquiry has also been order into the selection and circulation of “highly inappropriate content”. Keeping in view the seriousness of the matter, the inquiry will be conducted by a senior IAS officer, Additional Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar and he will be assisted by a JKAS officer Rohit Sharma, who will be “Presenting Officer’’.
Role of Fazil Imran Siddiqui & Imtiaz Mir
The selection of the controversial books was initiated by senior Samagra Siksha official Fazil Imran Siddiqui. Academic Officer Shazia Kouser of SCERT and Lecuturer Imtiaz Mir of Government Higher Secondary School, Wathoora in Budgam led the team which endorsed the books. Five other officials in the supervisory role have been identified as Sanjeev Sharma (Principal), Gurjeet Singh (Assistant Coordinator, Samagra Siksha), Niranjana Sharma (Lecturer), Renu Mengi (Lecturer) and Rajmohini (Lecturer).
All these officials which were part of Fazil Imran Siqqiqui’s team have been placed under suspension. Incidentally, Siddiqui originally hails from Kishtwar district and was described as a soft spoken but hardcore Islamist by some officials. During his earlier tenures as Principal in a local Jammu school and other appointments, his conduct remained suspicious but he barely escaped scrutiny.
The government order for the suspension of these officials and setting up the inquiry committee was issued on Saturday by Commissioner/Secretary of School Education Department Ram Niwas Sharma vide GO 257-JK (Edu) of 2026 dated 4.7.2026 (Saturday, July 4). In the order, it has been said that there was “serious negligence, dereliction of duty and lack of proper due diligence by members of the Sub Committee Series 4 (officials suspended).
In all, four sub committees had been set up by Samagra Siksha to go through the contents of the material submitted by no less than 463 books submitted by various publishers. In the book titled “Personalities and Legends of J&K’’, several Kashmiri separatist leaders like Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) co founder Muqbool Bhat, hardline Hurriyat leader late SAS Geelani, Massarat Alam, widely projected as Geelani’s possible successor and Shabir Shah.
Tihar Jail Inmates Made Heroes
Massarat Alam and Shabir Shah are presently lodged in Tihar jail of Delhi for past several years for their involvement in funding terrorism and directly participating in some activities. Incidentally, Massarat Alam is the person who led violent protests in the summer of 2010 which led to over 100 deaths and dozens of Kashmiris getting wounded due to use of pellet guns. He was also the person whom late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed wanted to release immediately after he became Chief Minister on March 1, 2015. However, his plans were thwarted by his coalition partner BJP which vetoed this proposal.
Education Minister Sakeena Ittoo has said that she wanted the immediate termination of all eight employees but was held back by officials as also her colleagues. Some of these employees may still be on the way to losing their jobs, she said, once their culpability for pushing secessionist, separatist ideology and glorifying known terrorists come to the fore after the inquiry.
The action by the School Education Department was initiated after the BJP, the Congress and some smaller political parties flagged the issue, pointing out the contents of these books glorified separatism and terrorism. Commenting about how these books could have entered the Samagra Siksha network in J&K, one official surmised that every year, hundreds of books are submitted by several publishers for inclusion.
Process for Selection of Books
Once the books have been received, Samagra Siksha constitutes committees for vetting the books for inaccuracies, factual errors and such others. These books are then meant to be read by the members of the sub committees constituted for the purpose. The committee members divide the books among themselves and start by checking the Preface, Table of Contents and Illustrations given therein.
Note sheets are then prepared recommending certain books which are supposed to be signed by all committee members. Usually, one or two of them actually read the books, tell others what they have read and all sign declaring therein that they have read the contents and found the books appropriate. So? This means that what happens in practice is that one man or woman of the committee reads a particular book or books, and other seven (of the sub committee) sign them in blind faith!
This is what seems to have happened in this case also, with Fazil Imran Siddiqui and Mir telling others that there was nothing wrong with the contents of the books. All the other sub committee members apparently never bothered to lay their hands on the book/s, flipping their pages but just signed the note sheet. Declaring falsely that they had gone through the books.
