Dozens of Kashmiri Students Expelled for Cheering Pakistan Cricket Team [View all]

[cali]

Dozens of Muslim students from the disputed Indian territory of Kashmir were expelled from their university and briefly threatened with sedition charges because they cheered for the Pakistani cricket team during a televised match against archrival India, police said Thursday, while the Indian state's elected leader called for leniency.

Akhilesh Yadav, chief minister of northern Uttar Pradesh state, said Thursday he told state officials that such a serious charge as sedition, which carries a possible life sentence, should be withdrawn because the students probably didn't understand the gravity of their actions. A senior state official told the Hindustan Times that the sedition charges were dropped, but officials could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

Yadav's statement in an interview with the New Delhi Television news channel came amid widespread outrage over the students' expulsion in the Indian portion of Kashmir, a divided Himalayan territory that both countries claim.

Earlier Thursday, authorities tried to track down the 66 students for questioning to determine whether sedition charges were appropriate, police officer N.K.S. Chauhan said.

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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/india-question-kashmiris-cricket-cheering-22795652