Men booked for stone-pelting may be freed on Eid

July 05, 2016 03:53 am | Updated 03:53 am IST - Srinagar:

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday asked the police to “review cases of youth booked on charges of stone-throwing between 2008 and 2014”.

“Youth who took to the wrong path inadvertently have to be given an opportunity to restart their lives as productive citizens so that they can rebuild their careers,” Ms. Mufti said, while chairing a high-level meeting on reforms in Jammu & Kashmir’s prisons.

She asked the State Home department and the police “to decide on merits how many such cases can be withdrawn.”

In an apparent move to release violent protesters ahead of Eid, Ms. Mufti has sought a report on nine youth, presently lodged in various jails in cases pertaining to stone-throwing, within two days.

Thirty people were being held under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in J&K, for being associated with separatist groups, stone-throwing and militancy in the Valley.

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