Day after Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti called for expediting review of the cases of youth booked on charges of stone-pelting, the State’s Home Department today approved withdrawal of 104 such cases involving 634 persons.The three-member Committee constituted by the Government vide order No: 355-Home of 2016 dated: 26-06-2016, in its recommendations submitted to the Chief Minister, who also holds the charge of Home Department, 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 comprised ADGP CID and Special Secretary Home as its members. The Committee is mandated to review the cases registered against the youth for stone-pelting during the period 2008 and 2014.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the first phase and has accordingly recommended that 104 cases registered during this period involving 634 persons be withdrawn.
The parents of the accused persons and the accused youth themselves, against whom the cases are to be withdrawn, shall have to give an undertaking that they will not indulge in any such activities in future.The Committee has, however, made it clear that the persons involved in heinous crimes and offenses will be excluded from the review.The recommendations of the Committee have been forwarded to the Police for immediate follow-up action.Meanwhile, the Committee has sought three weeks time for review of the cases pertaining to the period between 2010 and 2014.Pertinently, the Chief Minister while chairing a high-level meeting here on Monday regarding Reforms in J&K’s Prisons 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 She had said that the Committee constituted for the purpose should decide on merits how many of such cases can be withdrawn to give these young boys an opportunity to begin their lives afresh and carry along as productive citizens.