No question of compensating stone pelters: Venkaiah Naidu

New Delhi, Jul 10: Union minister Venkaiah Naidu on Monday outrightly rejected the Jammu and Kashmir human rights panel's directive for providing Rs 10 lakh compensation to Farooq Ahmad Dar, who was used as a "human shield" by the Army during a by-poll in the state.

There is no question of giving compensation to stone pelters, he said. Naidu said Major Leetul Gogoi, who tied Dar to a jeep to ward off stone pelters during the by-poll in April this year, saved lives of Election Commission officials and police personnel, and the entire country "appreciates" that.

"I do not agree with them. Pelting stones is inhuman, hurting army personnel is also inhuman. I do not know how this order has been given. We are not in agreement with their attitude. "There is no question of giving compensation to people who pelt stones. I have no sympathies for such people," Naidu said at the sidelines of an event.

Stone pelting is being done at the behest of "people from outside" which has been exposed by a sting operation by some TV channels", the Minister for Information and Broadcasting said.

The Jammu and Kashmir human rights commission today directed the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation to Farooq Ahmad Dar.

The compensation awarded to Dar is for the "humiliation, physical and psychiatric torture, stress, wrongful restraint and confinement" that he underwent when he was tied to the bonnet of an army vehicle to ward off stone pelters, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) observed in its judgement.

PTI