Due to preventive steps in J&K after abrogation of Article 370, not a single life lost: Centre to SC

Justifying restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370, the Centre said on Thursday that due to the preventive steps taken neither a single life was lost nor a single bullet fired.

Attorney General K K Venugopal told the top court that instead of questions, the government should be "congratulated" for effectively handling of the situation in the erstwhile state after the "historic" and "unparalleled" decision of August 5.

He told a bench headed by Justice N V Ramana that had internet services been allowed after August 5, then with one click of a button, 10,000 messages could have been sent to thousands of separatists or other militant leaders to congregate which could have resulted in chaos and massive incidents of violence.

"It is the past record which is being taken into account before taking any precautionary steps. The record shows series of terrorist incidents in the state. In July, 2016, three dreaded terrorist including Burhan Wani were killed in an encounter following which restrictions were imposed for three months in the state. At that time not a single case was filed but now 20 petitions have been filed," Venugopal said.

Responding to the petitions filed by Anuradha Bhasin, editor of 'Kashmir Times' newspaper and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, he said: "What happened on August 5 is something which is unparalleled in the history of the country in the past 70 years."
Mehta replied, "The situation in the valley is normal for majority of the population, who are happy with the decision of the government on Article 370 but for the miniscule section with the separatist mindset the situation is not normal. This court is custodian of fundamental rights of citizen and it should protect the rights of 99.9 percent people of J&K."