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| Tackling stone pelting Over 150 youth to be detained under PSA | | |
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Jan 29: The police arrested 30 youth for their alleged involvement in stone pelting incidents during the preceding night from the city. The arrestees are likely to be detained under public safety act (PSA).
Reports said the police raided several houses in Aali Kadal, Saraf Kadal, Maharaj Gunj, Gojwara, Sakeel Pora, Nawa Kadal, Safa Kadal and Rajouri Kadal during the preceding night and arrested around 30 youth. They were taken to some unknown destination.
The police gave their mind yesterday when a 20-year-old youth identified as Mudasir Ahmad Teli of Urdu Bazar, Srinagar was arrested and detained under PSA.
The arrests, according to informed sources, are part of multi-pronged strategy to contain stone pelting incidents in Srinagar, Sopore and Baramulla towns. Sources said a list comprising 150 “erring youth” from these towns has been prepared all of whom would be arrested and detained subsequently under PSA.
The police, believe the sources, have prepared a list of stone pelting youth on the basis of footage received from various agencies and close circuit cameras installed across Kashmir. Youth found involved in series of stone pelting incidents have found place in the list, sources said.
The stone pelting incidents in various parts of Srianagr city especially Nowhatta and Maisuma have been giving sleepless nights to the authorities for the past one year. Earlier the police decided to book stone pelting youth under Section 307 RPC. Section 307 defines and prescribes punishment for attempted murder.
Sources said invoking Section 307 RPC did not have the desired effect. The authorities, they said, in an exclusive meeting held a few days ago, decided to detain such youth under PSA.
The list, according to sources, has 75 youth from Sopore and Baramulla as well. Both these towns have also witnessed regular stone pelting incidents since past two years. Scores of youth have already been arrested since the said period but it has not worked. Stone pelting continues unabated.
The police, last year, tried to tame the youth by quoting a hadith (Saying of Prophet Muhammad). The hadith, according to the police, declares stone pelting as an un-Islamic act. However, the hadith triggered heated debates with the clergy saying that the hadith had been quoted out of context.
PSA is a preventive detention law and authorizes the state to detain a person for two years without trial. The secretary of the High Court Bar Association, G N Shaheen said the state cannot detain stone pelting youth under PSA. “It can be invoked when the state feels that a person is likely to pose serious threat to the security of state. How does a stone pelting youth pose a threat to security of the state?”
The police have also framed a strategy to tackle with public resentment the arrests are likely to evoke.
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