NEW DELHI

Three Kashmiri students who allegedly celebrated Pakistan’s victory against India in a cricket match last year were granted bail.

A court in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday announced the verdict.

The students, Arhseed Yusuf, Showkat Ahmed Ganai and Inayat Altaf Sheikh, were arrested on Oct. 27 last year.

Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi, the lawyer representing the students, told Anadolu Agency: “We expect them to be released within two (or) three days after completion of all formalities.”

The students were booked for sedition upon orders by the state's firebrand chief minister, Yogi Adityanath.

Pakistan and India are archrivals and have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region.

Rivalry between them often spills over to cricket, a popular sport in both South Asian nations which were once ruled by the British Empire.