Unfortunate killing

DGP of Jammu and Kashmir Dilbagh Singh told the media recently that the killing of a woman during a gunfight at Batamaloo was an unfortunate incident.

He said that it was an aberration and not a rule as police and security forces try their best to save civilians during encounters. Two civilian killings in the past few weeks at the hands of police and security forces in Kashmir have brought a question mark on the claims of officials that they were killed in “cross fire”. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has already said that he will not tolerate any police excess and has assured justice to such families.

Recently during the wee hours during a cordon operation in Firdousabad locality of Batmaloo a woman was coming to her baker shop along with her son and got killed when security forces opened indiscriminate fire. Police has refuted the family claim and said that she was killed in crossfire.

Police spokesman in Srinagar said that the deceased woman Kousar Reyaz (45) was killed in a ‘cross fire’. Aqib Reyaz, the son of the deceased woman, told the media that his mother was killed without any provocation and they were not within the cordon of an encounter in which three militants were later on.

His other family members claimed that Kousar Riyaz was killed by the security forces when the encounter was over and when they were coming out of the area.