The minister of state for home affairs Sajad Kitchloo on Sunday said that the government will review the cases against youth who have been booked for stone pelting at various places in valley and may release the accused who are found to have been booked in minor offences under general amnesty plan.Kichloo said: “The government has taken a call on the issue after National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah said that youth booked under stone pelting charges deserve a hassle free life.” The MoS home affairs informed that his ministry is going to review all the cases where the youth have been booked for stone pelting before recently concluded Lok Sabah elections. “The Govt will take a lenient view in genuine cases where the accused deserve to be given a chance to improve their behavior,” Kichloo told KNS.
The amnesty plan is seen as one of the initiatives of party’s course correction plans that have been chalked out after facing a drubbing in the recently held Lok Sabha elections in the state. Unconfirmed reports say that around 600 youth were rounded up in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls. But most of them were released after the elections were over. More than 1,300 youth in the Valley face charges of rioting and stone pelting since 2010.Pertinently, Dr Farooq had on May 29, said the youth booked for stone pelting since 2010 need amnesty. The NC president had opined about amnesty after a group of young boys met appealed him to get police cases against them withdrawn. A group of youth in a party youth convention held in Srinagar had expressed serious concern about their ‘miserable life’ caused by the police cases against them. After meeting addressing the youth convention, while talking to reporters, Dr Farooq had observed “Today, I met youth who, were involved in stone pelting. They told me there are FIRs against them which should be withdrawn. They need to be given some sort of general amnesty,” Abdullah, who met a delegation of stone-throwers at the party headquarters Nawa-e-Subah here, said.