Locals say the boy died after being shot, but the police maintain the teenager was murdered
Srinagar was on the boil for the second day on Saturday as thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the death of a teenager in a stone pelting incident at Rajouri Kadal in the sensitive old city area. Thirty five people including policemen were injured in the clashes. One civilian was admitted to a hospital in a critical condition
Seventeen-year-old student Tufail Ahmad Matoo was killed after being hit by a blunt object on Friday evening. Some locals say he was hit by a shell while others maintain it was a rubber bullet fired by cops. The police, on the other hand, said the boy was murdered.
Thousands of people shouting ‘pro-freedom’ slogans joined the funeral procession of Tufail. Protestors defying restrictions clashed with the police at a number of places in the old city area, prompting law enforcing agencies to lob smoke shells to disrupt the crowds and maintain peace. People even overran a CRPF bunker in the Hawal area during the protests.
The police had imposed strict restrictions in the old city to prevent people from converging. Despite that, hundreds of youth fought pitched battles with CRPF men who were seen using slings to respond to the stones.
“There was no curfew, but strict restrictions were imposed in the old city. The situation is tense, but under control”, said Abdul Rashid Paul, superintendent of police.
Security forces said they are exercising restraint to avoid casualties. “There was stone pelting at number of places. A sentry post was damaged by the stone throwers but we did not react and maintained restraint,” said Prabhakar Tripathi, the CRPF spokesman.
Life came to standstill as people observed a strike against the incident. Though there was no call from any separatist outfit, the youth took to the streets at a number of places and enforced a bandh. Shops and business establishments were shut and traffic was off the roads. The youth had erected barricades at number of places to restrict the traffic movement.
Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani was taken into preventive custody when he tried to venture out of his home at Hyderpora Srinagar early this morning. “He has been lodged in Humhama police station,” said Ayaz Akbar, Geelani’s spokesman.
Meanwhile, the focus has shifted to the post-mortem report to find out the cause of death. Tufail’s body was kept overnight in the police control room so that a specialised forensic team could carry out the autopsy. “Meanwhile, we are trying to avoid casualties,” said HK Lohia, DIG central Kashmir range.
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