Beneficiaries of amnesty not part of stonepelters, says Dineshwar
NEW DELHI: Dineshwar Sharma, the Centre’s special representative to Jammu and Kashmir, on Friday defended the decision to withdraw cases dating back to 2008 against stone-pelters , saying those covered by the amnesty were not involved in new incidents of stone throwing. And, according to J&K police, none of them had joined the ranks of militants, he said.
Sharma’s remarks, in an interview with HT, came in the backdrop of an increase in violence and intensity of stone-pelting in the Kashmir Valley and criticism of the withdrawal of cases.
Sharma said the positive sentiment generated in the Valley after the withdrawal of cases could not be sustained because the situation had deteriorated in the last two months.
Taking responsibility for the amnesty, Sharma said: “There are thousands of students and youth who got involved in stone pelting cases and a majority of them were involved only in one case and many of them date back to 2008, almost 10 years old. Recruitment to militancy is mainly from stone-pelters who are frustrated and angry.”
He added: “Our criminal justice infrastructure in J&K is incapable of handling so many cases. My recommendation for withdrawal of cases against first-time stone pelters was an attempt to wean away the youth from the path of violence.”
NEWDELHI:Five persons, including four women, were allegedly assaulted by a group of men and women over a dispute about stray dogs in Siddhartha Extension. A video of the assault emerged on social media in which, one of the women can be seen on the road as her family tries to save her from a mob assaulting them with batons. All the victims, originally from J&K, are from the same family. The family claimed they were called “Kashmiri extremists” by some persons in the mob and that the attack was “unprovoked”.
The locals said the fight broke out over the family “feeding stray dogs” in the locality.
“When we were on our way to drop my fiancé, we were stopped by a mob of around 40 persons, which included local RWA president SN Pandey. They started hitting us even as we pleaded them to let us go. They called us ‘Kashmiri extremists’ and said we would not be allowed to stay in our house anymore,” said the male member of the family, who did not wish to be identified.
Pandey and others denied the family’s claims and said they were objecting to the family trying to stop civic workers from taking away stray dogs from the society. Pandey said the stray dogs had attacked many people.
Pandey, however, denied that the family members were called “Kashmiri extremists”.
DCP (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal police have registered a case under Sections 354, 354A, 341, 323, 506, 509 and 34 of the IPC.
“There have been more than 50 complaints and counter complaints against the residents of Siddarth Enclave and the complainant. A dispute over feeding of stray dogs took place yesterday’s night. An FIR under appropriate sections of the law has been registered,” Biswal said. NC chief Omar Abdullah urged Union home minister Rajnath Singh to probe the matter urgently.