December 17, 2006
In a case of mistaken identity, Army troops
shot and killed a 70-year-old man in Anantnag
district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, triggering
clashes between enraged locals and police in
which five people were injured.
The army regretted the killing and said a Court
of Inquiry had been set up to probe the incident.
Normalcy was restored after police registered
a case against the troops and the authorities
assured financial relief to the bereaved family.
Sonaullah Magray, a village chief, was killed
when he walked into an ambush laid by troops
of the Rashtriya Rifles to trap militants in
village Tarigam-Dooru in the wee hours, official
sources said.
They said Magray was on his way to a mosque
to offer prayers when the incident happened.
The killing sparked instant protests with villagers
holding massive demonstrations demanding severe
punishment for erring security force personnel.
Chanting anti-army slogans, over 5000 protesters
poured into the streets with Magray's body and
enforced a shutdown in the village and nearby
areas.
The villagers pelted stones at police who swung
batons and burst teargas shells to bring the
situation under control.
The protesters also tried to block the Srinagar-Jammu
National Highway at Qazigund, some 80 kms from
Srinagar.
The pitched battles between protesters and police
left five injured, two of them women.
A defence spokesman said at around 0630 hours,
an ambush party challenged a man when they saw
him approaching them. When he did not stop,
the security force personnel fired a warning
shot, he said.
Instead of heeding the warning, the man bent
down and the troops thought that he was pulling
out a weapon from his clothes, the spokesman
said.
The troops fired two shots at him -- one hit
him in the leg and the other in the stomach,
he said adding the man succumbed to bullet wounds.
The spokesman said the army regretted the killing
which was a case of mistaken identity, adding
a Court of Inquiry had been constituted to probe
the killing.
The protesters refused to bury the dead despite
assurances by senior police and district officials
that a probe would be conducted into the incident
and guilty brought to book.
Later, they relented and Magray was buried at
the graveyard.
