‘Young people dying in conflict is unfortunate’

NEW DELHI: Terming as unfortunate the death of youngsters in the ongoing disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government told the Supreme Court on Monday that a 26 year old youth was killed by pellet injuries and not shot at pointblank as claimed by his father.

Making its submissions before the Supreme Court, the state government said the autopsy report has revealed that the young man, who was allegedly killed at Tengpora in Batamaloo area of Srinagar on July 10, had died of pellet injuries.

One Abdul Rehman Mir had alleged that his son Shabir Ahmad Mir was shot by police at his home from a point blank range on July 10, while the Jammu and Kashmir Police had claimed that he had died during protests in the Valley.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi appearing for state government told a bench of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy that the post-mortem report belied the claim of the victim’s father that he was shot by policemen from point blank range.

“It’s an unfortunate incident. We are not treating it as an adversarial litigation. It is unfortunate that young people are dying in disturbances in the state. The post-mortem report belies the claim of victim’s father,” Rohatgi said.

The post-mortem, conducted on the body of Shabir Ahmad Mir following the direction of apex court, has revealed that he died of pellet injuries and not because of bullet wounds as claimed by his father.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing on November 23.