MENTALLY CHALLENGED MAN SHOT DEAD BY SENTRY IN J&K

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

A mentally challenged man was shot dead by an army sentry when he ignored his warnings and walked towards the Rashtriya Rifles camp in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Saturday.

Relatives of Rayees Ahmad staged a protest and placed his body on the road in Shopian demanding action against the army personnel. Police later dispersed the protesters, who then took the body for burial.

As per the relatives, he was missing since Friday.

The officials said that Rayees was found wandering around the 34 RR camp at Pahnoo in Shopian district around 3am on Friday. He had crossed the perimeter fencing and was walking towards the camp wall when the sentry challenged him

When Rayees failed to pay heed to his verbal warning, the soldier fired in the air in a vain attempt to desist him, a police officer said. He added that the sentry then shot at him, leading to his death.

This is not the first time when a mentally challenged person was killed by the forces outside the camp or close to it in the Valley. In the past two decades, more than one dozen persons, who were mentally challenged were killed by forces in different parts of Kashmir.

THE MAN CROSSED THE PERIMETER FENCING AND WAS WALKING TOWARDS THE CAMP WALL WHEN THE SENTRY CHALLENGED HIM