Beaten up ruthlessly by stone pelters, shopkeeper dies at SKIMS

CM’s Twitter silent but traders register protest, strike against stone pelters

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Dec 14: In their first ever public assertion against stone pelters in downtown Srinagar, traders today called for two-day shutdown after one of their colleagues, who had been mercilessly beaten up on December 3^rd, succumbed to injuries at SKIMS, Soura. Police have registered a murder case and arrested four of the accused persons in the current year’s first civilian death allegedly caused by stone pelters.

Authoritative sources told Early Times that 30-year-old shopkeeper Tariq Ahmad Bhat S/o Abdul Salam Bhat R/o Ranga Hamam (Nowhatta), who ran a jute-mating shop between Nowhatta Chowk and Gojwara Chowk in the core of downtown Srinagar, succumbed to injuries at Surgical Intensive Care Unit of SKIMS today. According to eye-witnesses, Police and family members, Tariq had been beaten up into his head ruthlessly with a cricket bat by a group of stone pelters who were forcibly imposing shutdown in the area on December 3^rd. The group of stone pelters was reportedly demonstrating against introduction of “chilly grenades”, a non-lethal anti-riot tool, by Police.

Doctors who attended on the patient at Surgical ICU of SKIMS said that Tariq Ahmad Bhat breathed his last at 3.00 pm today. He was under treatment and observation for eleven days. “He was operated for contusion”, records said. Recordings on his death certificate mentioned ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) with sepsis with refractory hypotension with cardiac arrest” as the cause of death. Doctors from the Department of Neurosurgery, who had admitted Tariq on December 3^rd and looked after him, told Early Times that the patient had sustained very critical head injury as he had been beaten up with a hard object.

SKIMS authorities handed over dead body to Police which arranged the post mortem with the cooperation of family members and traders at another hospital. Sources said that the detailed report of autopsy would be available in a few days and the medico-legal opinion could be framed accordingly.

SHO Nowhatta, Inspector Mohammad Iqbal, said that Police had already registered case FIR No: 84 of 2011 under sections 307 (attempted murder), 148, 149, 336 (rioting) and 336 RPC (collective intention of causing death) and arrested four of the key accused. He said that the FIR was converted into murder case with addition of section 302 RPC after Tariq died at SKIMS today. He identified the detainees as Suhail Ahmad Bhat S/o Maqsood Bhat, Rayees Ahmad Bhat S/o Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, Haroon Bhat S/o Ab Rashid Bhat and Ghulam Hassan Bhat S/o Ab Wahab Bhat, all residents of Rajouri Kadal.

Even as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is known for his habit of posting Tweets quickly on such incidents, chose to remain a mute spectator, visibly outraged traders downed shutters in protest immediately after their colleague’s dead body reached Nowhatta Chowk for funeral prayers. Eyewitnesses said that over a thousand traders and residents participated in the mass funeral prayers. Later today, Central Traders & Manufacturers Association called for two-day long shutdown on Thursday and Friday in entire Nowhatta-Gojwara belt.

Speakers at the funeral and later at a condolence meeting with the bereaved family asserted that killing of the poor shopkeeper by urchins and stone pelters was “completely unacceptable” for the traders community. They strongly condemned the innocent civilian killing and demanded “strong and quick action” by Police. Some of them went to the extent of hanging the killers of Tariq Bhat to death at Nowhatta Chowk.

Tariq was from a poor family of nearby Ranga Hamam locality with his elderly parents, two unmarried brothers and a married sister. “He was the sole bread-earner for the family. We are completely shattered”, his bother Showkat Ahmad exclaimed in grief. He revealed to Early Times that sometime back he had been operated upon and a valve had been put into his heart. He too worked as a vendor at the marketplace beside Jamia Masjid but his earnings were too meager.

Tariq had set up a shop of jute mating in Nowhatta area. Two months back, he had been engaged to 27-year-old Lali Jan of nearby Bahauddin Sahab locality. Showkat said that Tariq’s wedding had been fixed in July next year. He observed that enforcing hartal, beating up poor traders and killing innocent civilians was not justified under any circumstances. “We demand Police to act and ensure exemplary punishment to the hooligans who have ruined our family”, he said.

Asked if anybody from Government, mainstream political leaders or separatist politicians had called on the bereaved family with expression of solidarity, Showkat said: “We have absolutely nothing with politics. We are not in favour of making it a political issue. It is reassuring enough for us that the traders community and leadership has outrightly condemned this barbaric incident, demanded action against the killers and expressed solidarity with us”.

SSP Srinagar, Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, said that Police would arrest everybody who figured as an accused and the prosecution would be taken to its logical conclusion. He said that almost all the participants in the group had been already identified. While as four of them had been arrested, search was underway to take others into custody.

SHO Nowhatta said that the group of hooligans had marched to Gojwara Chowk after enforcing shutdown in Nowhatta and Rajouri Kadal on December 3^rd. For over an hour, they even detained a busload of the students of Oak Hill School. When a student began trembling with cold and seemed to be dying, some residents forced the group to let the bus proceed to its destination. Thereafter, the hooligans struck with a cricket bat on the head of Tariq who had put up a mild resistance and was not inclined to shut his shop.

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