Over 1800 youths granted amnesty in stone-pelting cases in J&K

The Jammu and Kashmir government today said 1811 youths were granted amnesty in stone-pelting cases registered in 2010-11 in the state.  Amnesty had been granted to 1811 youths involved in 230 cases of stone-pelting during 2010 and 2011, it said in the Legislative Assembly. 

Of these cases, 228 had been withdrawn and proceedings in the remaining two were underway, the government said in a written reply. It said there was no proposal under its consideration to grant amnesty to any militant or terrorist involved in henious crime. 

In August 2011, the state government announced an amnesty scheme for the youths arrested since March 2010 in connection with stone-pelting and other related violence. This was done to facilitate youths to pursue higher education and to ensure that their involvement in these cases did not affect the verification of their character and antecedents for obtaining passports, jobs and loans, the written reply said.