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Ladakh LG quashes FIRs against 25 accused in last year’s Leh violence
The violent clashes with the security forces had left four men including a retired soldier dead and 100 others injured
Close on the heels of a meeting on Wednesday between representatives of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) with officials from the Union home ministry—focusing on statehood with a legislature and constitutional guarantees under the Sixth Schedule—the UT administration of Ladakh announced on Thursday the withdrawal of FIRs against 25 of the 87 people booked following the September 24 violence in Leh.
The violent clashes with the security forces had left four men including a retired soldier dead and 100 others injured. The representatives of LAB and KDA had raised the demand of withdrawing FIRs against the people booked for September 24 violence and compensation to the affected families.
Addressing mediapersons in Leh on Thursday, Ladakh chief secretary Ashish Kundra said, “In total, 87 FIRs were lodged, out of whom, nine were chargesheeted because of evidence against them. Their cases are before the court. However, following yesterday’s meeting, we discussed the matter with the LG and with his permission; it has been decided to withdraw FIRs against 25 people. We will file their closure report before the court.” For the remaining people, DGP will be asked to analyse their cases afresh and see what can be done with them, he said.
Govt asks state election commission to initiate process of panchayat polls
The chief secretary also drew attention to long-overdue elections to the Panchayats. “Though the representatives confined themselves to sub-committee discussions on having an elected UT-level body, we told them that, being a political discussion, there are bodies below the UT-level body at the district and panchayat levels where we don’t have elected people except in the case of the Kargil hill council,” said Kundra.
“Accordingly, we put forth a suggestion that the process for panchayat polls, which have not been held for a long time, should be initiated. Therefore, the government has made up its mind to convey to the state election commission to initiate the process and issue a formal notification for holding them,” he said.
Kundra also referred to Section 3 of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Act, which talks about district councils in all the districts of Ladakh. “Since Ladakh now has seven districts, the process for holding polls to have hill councils in all the districts will be initiated in the second stage after bringing requisite change in the law,” he said.
Elaborating further on the LAB and KDA meeting with the MHA officials, he recalled that a unanimous consensus had already been evolved at the July 3 meeting held in Leh.
“A consensus had evolved about having a UT level body in Ladakh, which is called sui-generis and there is no parallel to it in the country. Under Article 371, a draft proposal will be given a shape. The representatives of Ladakh have put-forth a wish-list to the MHA officials about non-negotiable items. The sub-committee meeting is likely to be held in the first half of September. A draft proposal is also being prepared by the MHA. Eventually, a framework will come up…to decide all aspects including how to form the UT level body, to hold elections, to delegate powers to executive and judiciary and other related elements. These things don’t happen overnight but certainly a new model will be prepared in consonance with the aspirations of the people of Ladakh and within the Constitution. A process has been initiated and a meeting will soon be held,” he said.
