Mehbooba announces amnesty to first-time stone pelters in J-K
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has announced launch of the Centre’s amnesty for first-time “offenders of stone pelting”, a move that could see police drop charges against 4,500 people, most of them youngsters.
HT was first to report that the government was set to announce an amnesty scheme for stone pelters in the Valley ahead of Centre’s special representative Dineshwar Sharma’s second visit to J&K later this month.
Mufti’s announcement came through a series of late-night tweets on Wednesday .“It gives me immense satisfaction to restart the process of withdrawing FIRs against first time offenders of stone pelting. My government had initiated the process in May, 2016 but it was unfortunately stalled due to the unrest later that year.”
Police sources said about 11,000 FIRs were registered over stone pelting incidents following the killing of Hizb militant commander Burhan Wani in July last year.
Police said they were looking into the cases to as certain who can be let off. “Some reports say 4,500 boys are first-time offenders but we are examining the cases to arrive at the number,” said SP Vaid, the state director general of police. Vaid said the process will start when “the government order comes”. Mehbooba said the government’s initiative is based on recommendations by Dineshwar Sharma.