Mehbooba rolls out amnesty for 10K stone-pelters

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday told the assembly that her government had approved the withdrawal of criminal cases against nearly 10,000 youth who were booked for pelting stones on armed forces between 2008 and 2017.
Mehbooba said the state government has approved the withdrawal of 1745 cases involving 9730 people, subject to "certain condition" on the basis of a committee constituted by the government in 2016.

Giving details of the criminal cases lodged against civilians in the last two years, Mehbooba said 3,773 cases of stone-pelting were registered against 11,290 people during 2016-2017. The highest number of people (2,330) were arrested in Srinagar, followed by Baramulla (2046) during this period.

However, 77% of these cases (2904) were registered in 2016, when violence had erupted after the encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July.

Meanwhile, two CRPF jawans were injured when terrorists hurled a hand grenade at a patrol party in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. Two civilians were also injured.