SRINAGAR: 634 people, facing stone-pelting charges, will get amnesty on the occasion of Eid, with the Jammu and Kashmir Government on Tuesday approving withdrawal of 104 cases against them.
The decision of the Home Department, approving withdrawal of the cases, came after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti gave instructions for reviewing such cases pertaining to the period between 2008 and 2014 and set up a three-member committee for this purpose. Significantly, the Chief Minister herself is incharge of the Home Department.
“The Committee had taken up for review the cases pertaining to the period between 2008 and 2009 in the first phase and has accordingly recommended that 104 cases registered during this period involving 634 persons be withdrawn,” an official spokesman said.
“The parents of the accused persons and the accused youth themselves, against whom the cases are to be withdrawn, shall have to give an undertaking that they will not indulge in any such activities in future,” the spokesman added.
The recommendations of the Committee have been forwarded to the police for immediate follow-up action. The committee has, however, made it clear that the persons involved in heinous crimes and offences will be excluded from the review, he said.
The committee has sought three weeks time for review of the cases pertaining to the period between 2010 and 2014. Mehbooba had said last month that her government was reviewing all cases of stone-pelting since 2008 and “Those not involved in heinous crimes will be released and some may be released before Eid.”
On Monday, the Chief Minister, while chairing a high-level meeting here, had called for expediting the process of taking a holistic review of the cases registered against the youth between 2008 and 2014 for stone-pelting.
She is of the opinion that such young boys, charged for stone-pelting, should be given an opportunity to begin their lives afresh and carry along as productive citizens.
The spokesman said the committee, in its recommendations submitted to the Chief Minister, has proposed that the cases pertaining to the period between 2008 and 2014 be segregated and recommended for withdrawal in a phased manner.
Headed by Director General of Police, the committee also includes ADGP (CID) and Special Secretary (Home).