Baramulla:
A day after a 12th standard boy was killed in firing by jawans of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in Baramulla in north Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today strongly condemned the incident, dubbing it as an "inexcusable, excessive use of force". Mr Abdullah also sought exemplary action against the guilty so that nobody else acted in a similar manner.
"This will have to be treated not as a case of self-defence, but excessive use of force," the Chief Minister said after visiting the family of the victim.
The student was killed and two others injured after the CISF men opened fire yesterday to disperse a mob protesting against power outages in the Bonyar area.
The incident has sparked major outrage with locals demanding justice for the 16-year-old boy's death. The Chief Minister's motorcade was blocked by a crowd of around 200-300 people while he was on his way to the victim's home. Mr Abdullah got out of his car and told them that it was a murder as the boy was returning from his tuition with books in his hand and two bullets were shot at his chest. "There is no other way of terming this incident," he said.
"Do you shoot protesters in other parts of the country because they are asking for electricity? No, you don't," said Mr Abdullah. The public anger was genuine but the response was not, he said, pointing out that the government had dealt with "tougher situations" last year without having to use such force.
The state government has already lodged a strong protest with the Centre and has also announced a compensation of Rs. one lakh for the kin of the dead.
"The CISF whose personnel have opened fire in this incident are not a part of the counter-insurgency grid, but have been deployed by the NHPC exclusively for the security of the installations across the state. We have taken up the matter with the Union Home Ministry," B R Sharma, Principal Secretary (Home), Jammu & Kashmir said.
The Opposition was quick to hit out at the government over the incident. "In the past three years, the government has mishandled everything. There have been failures on all fronts, be it human rights, be it development, or administrative. This government has been in survival mode for the last three years and so, they have hardly paid attention to the basic needs of the people," said Mehbooba Mufti, PDP President.
The incident reportedly occurred after some people in the crowd tried to force their entry into the office of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). CISF personnel guarding the complex allegedly opened fire.
However, eyewitnesses claim that the protesters were not trying to overrun the plant and the incident occurred in the residential area of the NHPC. They also claim that the 16-year-old student was shot twice in the chest.
"This martyr (victim) was a student...He was coming back from his tuitions...they fired on us like they were firing on militants," a villager said.
Five CISF personnel have been arrested so far. "An internal investigation has been launched... Strict action will be taken against the guilty," said N R Das, Director General CISF.