Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Monday described Hizbul Mujahideen militant Manan Bashir Wani, who was killed in a gun-battle with security forces, as a "victim of relentless violence in Kashmir". The PDP president said this while demanding withdrawal of cases against three Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students from the Valley who were booked after they allegedly tried to hold a prayer meeting for Wani on Friday.

"It will be a travesty to punish them (students) for remembering their former colleague (Wani) who was a victim of relentless violence in Kashmir," Mehbooba said in a tweet. Twenty-seven-year-old Wani, who was pursing a Ph.D course in allied geology at the AMU, had quit the university and joined militant ranks in January. The three Kashmiri students were booked for sedition for allegedly raising "anti-India" slogans and trying to hold a prayer meeting for the Hizbul 'commander', a day after he was killed in a gun battle with security forces in north Kashmir's Handwara area. Mehbooba also asked the Centre to intervene in the matter.