“The government has decided that stone throwers in Jammu and Kashmir will not be given any amnesty in the near future,” a senior Home Ministry official said on Friday.
The official said there would be no concept of “first-time” stone throwers, and anyone arrested in future for such crimes would be dealt with under the law.
For misguided youth
On November 21, 2017, the Home Ministry advised the State government to withdraw cases against first-time offenders involved in stone-throwing incidents during the 2016 clashes and unrest in the Kashmir Valley.
An official said 3,685 students and young men got relief under the scheme and a further 9,000 people would have been covered under the amnesty scheme.
“There is no question of extending the scheme any more. There are no first- or second-time offenders; they are all involved in crime and would face the law,” the official said.
While announcing the scheme last year, a senior Ministry official had said “misguided youth” who became first-time offenders because of prevailing circumstances needed a chance to rebuild their career and look for job opportunities rather than being labelled as criminals for life.
‘Caused BJP-PDP rift’
The Ministry official said on Friday that the amnesty was one of the reasons which caused consternation in the BJP, leading to the break-up of the alliance with the PDP.
“After the first round of amnesty, the then Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, pushed for further amnesty even as the stone throwing continued. We decided that the government could not be soft on these issues any more,” the official said.
Nearly 700 young men have been charged with criminal cases for throwing stones and damaging public property in the Kashmir Valley in violent protests that broke out after July 8, 2016, when Hizbul Mujahideen “commander” Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces.
Of the 700 young men who faced criminal charges, 40 are in jail.
Twenty of them are in the 19-21 age group, the official said.
