Human Rights
Those responsible for Sopore Killing need to be brought to account: UN Spokesperson
Srinagar: Answering to a series of questions in a daily briefing, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that those responsible for the killing of a civilian and an armed forces personnel in north Kashmir’s Sopore, need to be brought to account.
“We will look into it. But, obviously, people who are responsible need to be brought to account, but let me look further into the report,” Stéphane Dujarric, said when asked about the killings.
In answer to another question about the protests following the killings, Dujaric said, “As anywhere, we encourage people to be, authorities to allow people to demonstrate freely and that they can express their rights to demonstrate.”
On Wednesday morning, an elderly man identified as Bashir Ahmed Khan and an armed forces personnel were killed in Sopore. Police has said that both the killings were done my militants who shot rounds of fire.
Bashir was travelling with his 3-year-old grandson.
The family and relatives of the deceased claimed that Bashir Ahmed was killed by CRPF personnel who dragged him down from his vehicle and shot him to avenge the killing of their colleague by the militants.
Disturbing visuals of Bashir’s 3 year old child sitting on the motionless dead-body of his grandfather, was shared by the police.
The boy was numb with fear when he was picked up by policemen. A short video shows the boy sobbing inside a police van as biscuits and chocolates are offered to him by the police personnel.
However, police have strongly refuted allegations of the family.
“I want to ask them if they were present at the site of incident. Did they see who fired,” Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Vijay Kumar, said while briefing a press gathering in Srinagar.
Amnesty India has said that the Kashmir Police is responsible for violating the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 by sharing the visuals of the minor and revealing his identity.
Ex-Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has accused the forces of using the tragedy for Public Relations.
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