Chennai tourist dies of stone-pelting injuries in Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehooba Mufti meets the family members of a tourist who was killed in a stone-pelting incident at Narbal in the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehooba Mufti meets the family members of a tourist who was killed in a stone-pelting incident at Narbal in the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday.   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The police said protesters attacked several vehicles with rocks as the valley was observing a shutdown in protest against the deaths of five civilians during the Shopian encounter

A 22-year-old tourist was killed and a local woman injured in an incident of stone throwing at Narbal on the Srinagar-Gulmarg road in Baramulla district on Monday evening.

An official said R. Tirumani, son of Rajavel of Chennai, died at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Srinagar. He was hit on the nose and the forehead. He was here with his parents and sister.

Sabreena, 19, from Handwara, suffered multiple injuries and is undergoing treatment.

The police said protesters attacked several vehicles with rocks. “Several vehicles were damaged by the stone throwers,” a police official said.

“Investigations have started to identify the culprits involved in the incident,” a police official said.

The valley was observing a shutdown on Monday in protest against the deaths of five civilians during the Shopian encounter on Sunday.

Terming the attack “highly condemnable”, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who met the family from Chennai in the hospital, directed the authorities to provide all assistance to shift the body to the city.

Widespread criticism

Regional parties and several civil society members condemned the attack on the tourist, the second such incident in a fortnight.

“Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone-throwers and their methods,” said National Conference working president Omar Abdullah.