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The cases were filed over their political commentary on social media platforms. Mubeen Shah and Tony Ashai are based in the United States, while Rifat Wani is living in Germany.

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A court of National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Srinagar has ordered three men from Jammu and Kashmir who are currently living abroad to appear before it by January 31, in connection with cases alleging the misuse of social media to spread anti-India sentiment, reports said.

The three men — Mubeen Ahmad Shah and Azizul Hassan Ashai, also known as Tony Ashai, both from Srinagar, and Rifat Wani from Trehga, Kupwara — were charged by the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s intelligence wing in 2020, according to the Press Trust of India.

Shah and Ashai are based in the United States, while Wani is living in Germany, The Indian Express reported.

Cases against Shah and Wani were filed for their political commentary on social media platforms.

Police booked the men under provisions of the Indian Penal Code dealing with promoting enmity and hatred between groups, as well as making statements that create or encourage hostility. Authorities also applied the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, The Indian Express quoted the intelligence wing as saying.

Last year Shah filed a writ petition in the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court seeking to quash the over alleged social media posts in which he asked Kashmiri natives to boycott non-locals.

Shah was detained under the Public Safety Act on August 5, 2019, in Srinagar at the time of the abrogation of Article 370. He was released several months later, after which he left the country.

According to the police, the case was registered following “credible intelligence inputs” pointing to a “well-orchestrated conspiracy by unscrupulous anti-social and anti-national elements operating at the behest of secessionist forces” both within and outside the Kashmir valley.

The Counter Intelligence Kashmir unit alleged that the accused were “masquerading as news portals, journalists and freelancers” and were “weaponising” Facebook, X and WhatsApp to create, upload and circulate “fake, motivated, exaggerated, secessionist and out-of-context content”.

Authorities said the alleged objective was to “incite street violence, disrupt normal life, damage public property, disturb public order and fuel mass unrest”.

Police said the three men went into hiding after arrest notices were issued, prompting the NIA court to issue proclamation notices ordering them to appear by Jan. 31.

Despite being declared absconders, the men remain active on social media and continue to circulate allegedly misleading content intended to incite violence in Jammu and Kashmir, police told The Indian Express.