Stone pelting incidents in Jammu and Kashmir have come down significantly from a high of over 2,600 in 2016 to barely a few dozen in the first half of 2019, officials said on Sunday. The arrests of people involved in stone pelting incidents also have come down from over 10,500 to just about a hundred.
According to the Home Ministry statistics, there were 2,653incidents of stone pelting in 2016 for which 10,571 persons were arrested bypolice.
However, among the arrested just 276 were sent to jail andothers were let off with warnings.
There were 1,412 incidents of stone pelting in 2017 in which2,838 trouble-makers were arrested and 63 of them were sent to jail. In 2018,there were 1,458 incidents of stone pelting in which 3,797 persons werearrested and 65 of them were sent to jail, as per the statistics.
In the first six months of 2019, there were around 40incidents of stone pelting in which about a hundred persons were detained, theofficial said. There has been a marked improvement in the security scenario inthe Valley ever since the imposition of Governor’s rule on 19 June 2018, whenthe BJP withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti-led government, he said.After the six months of Governor’s rule, thePresident’s rule was imposed, which has been continuing.