ISSUED: Mumbai police has issued an advisory to various police stations asking them to keep a watch on people from J&K especially drivers, as some of them are suspected to have been carrying out recce for terror groups. It was issued after the arrest of two Kashmiris in November 2010.
RELEASED: Sister of militant commander, who was arrested by police in Tral area of south Kashmirhas was released after a court granted her bail. The arrest of 21-year-old Soni Jan, sister of Sajad Ahmed, district commander of militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen had sparked massive protest demonstrations in the area.
Arrested: Police arrested a woman from Sirwal-Behota village of Doda district alleging her to be an associate of a commander of HM militant outfit
DETAINED: Government has slapped Public Safety Act on a 15-year-old boy from south Kashmir Shopian district. Police arrested Towseef Hussain Bhat son of Ghulam Muhammad Bhat of Baba Mohalla Shopian Just 15 days after finishing his class 10th examination. The PSA order accuses him of “hijacking the sentiments of the locals and exploiting the youth for instigating violence.”
REVEALED: Response to an RTI application has revealed that there are more under-trials than convicts in J&K jails. There are 2515 prisoners lodged in various state jails, with 1859 under-trials and just 269 convicts – 25 in Kashmir and 243 in Jammu. Of 1908 prisoners in nine jails in Jammu region, 1323 are under-trials. In Kashmir jails there are 507 under-trials out of 575 prisoners. District jail Leh houses 29 under-trials including a female. Besides, there are 324 prisoners, including 10 women, lodged under PSA. There are 78 female prisoners, including six convicts and 18 under-trials lodged in Jammu jails while 10 female prisoners, including eight under-trials and two PSA cases, are lodged in Kashmir jails. The jails are overcrowded – district Jail Jammu has 550 inmates against the capacity of 450 and central jail in Srinagar has capacity for 300 but houses 411 prisoners.
RELEASED: Fourteen-year-old Basharat Yaqoob Beigh son of Muhammad Yaqoob of Shopian was released from Kathua Jail after the state government revoked his PSA order.
ACQUITTED: The Sessions Court Srinagar has acquitted the sole accused, Shabir Ahmad Zargar, in the killing of former National Conference MLA Pir Mohammad Shafi in 1990. The sons of the deceased MLA told the court that the accused was not among the assailants, paving way for his release.
PAID: The Finance Department has released Rs. 4.20 crore to clear the payment of allowances under Voluntary Services Scheme (VSA). A total of 16,302 candidates have been registered under VSA in the State in December 2010 while the number of such registrations stood at 4022 in June 2010. Another 3750 applications are awaiting clearance.
CONVICTED: A Delhi court sentenced a man to 14 years imprisonment under POTA for raising funds for banned militant outfits. Additional Sessions Judge R K Gauba awarded 52-year-old Jafar Umar Khan maximum sentence of 14 years under the provision of POTA relating to raising funds for terror activities besides imposing a fine of Rs 20,000.
VISITING: The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya will be visiting Kashmir to assess the human rights situation in the valley. The dates for the visit have not been finalised. She will also visit Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal.
FILED: The CBI has filed a case against seven persons, including sacked Congress minister, G M Saroori and former National Conference, minister Rampal for using impersonators for their wards in the medical entrance test last year.
HACKED: A group of hackers calling itself Cyber Sangbaaz (Stone pelters) Force hacked the Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s website www.amitabhbachchanonline.com and posted a video and audio message on it. It is for the first time that a website has been hacked by a group claiming to support the stone-pelters in Kashmir.
RESPONDED: The much hyped surrender and rehabilitation policy seems to have taken off as at least 30 application forms have been received by police in Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, which witnessed large scale migration of people towards Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) after eruption of militancy in 1989. The policy approved by Government of India paves way for return of the youth, who had crossed over to PaK after eruption of militancy in the Valley.
RECORDED: If the number of voters for the Panchayat elections published by a Jammu newspaper is taken at face value then J&K has a total voter population of 47.4 lakh voters. With 566273 voters, Jammu district has the highest number of voters and with 15061 Srinagar has the lowest voters. A total of 218563 new voters were added and 104006 were deleted.
PLANNED: The government will be taking up as many as 100 historical forts in the state would be renovated in a phased manner.
The government has undertaken the restoration work of Samba Fort with the total project cost of Rs. 4.95 crore.
