Trucker hurt in Udhampur attack dies, triggers protests

A truck conductor, injured in a petrol bomb attack in Udhampur nine days ago, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, triggering protests in some parts of Kashmir even as the tough Public Safety Act was slapped against five of the seven people arrested in the case.

Zahid, who was admitted in SafdarjungHospital in Delhi with 74 per cent burn injuries, breathed his last at 11.30 am after his condition worsened in the last 12 hours, police and hospital sources said.

A resident of Anantnag in South Kashmir, Zahid was conductor of the truck that was en route to Kashmir when a mob attacked it with petrol bombs on October 9. The driver of the truck Showkat Ahmed is also admitted in the hospital.

As soon as the news about his demise reached his Batengoo village, a spontaneous shutdown was observed and clashes between protesters and police broke out there and adjoining areas in Kulgam, police said.

Police had to use force to control the situation but nobody was hurt in the protests.

The body was flown from Delhi to Srinagar on Sunday evening in an aircraft of the state government. Ruling Peoples Democratic Party chief and MP from Anantnag Mehbooba Mufti, state’s Finance Minister Haseeb A Drabu and Law Minister Basharat Bukhari were at the Srinagar airport to receive the body.

Expressing deep shock over the death, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed blamed the “politics of hate and intolerance” for it and said it is posing a “grave challenge to the state and country’s plurality”.

He asserted that under no circumstances shall those guilty of this “barbaric crime” be allowed to go unpunished.

Nirmal Singh, Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Jammu region where the attack took place, also condemned the incident and said the perpetrators should not be spared.

Former Jammu Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah attacked BJP and its allies over the incident and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to who would be blamed for the death.

Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar said five out of the eight persons involved in the attack have been booked under Public Safety Act.

“Seven persons were arrested for criminal assault on the truck and searches are on to nab the one, who is still absconding,” he said. 

The body of Zahid, who was one of the two persons injured in the attack, will be taken to his native Batengoo village for the last rites.

Protests broke out in Batengoo, its neigbouring Kulgam district and several parts of Srinagar city. Police used batons and smoke shells to chase away the protesters.

There were no reports of anyone getting hurt in the clashes between the stone-pelting protestors and law enforcing personnel, a police official said.

Due to protests, the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on which Batengoo village is situated, was closed, an official said, additional police personnel are on stand by.

To protest against the death, both factions of separatist Hurriyat Conference and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front called for a shutdown in the Valley on Monday. A Kashmiri pandit organisation, Kashmir High Court Bar Association, traders’ bodies and transport union have extended support to shutdown call.

The state police chief said seven people have been arrested for “criminal assault on the truck and searches were on to nab another person involved in it.

Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said murder charges will now be slapped on the accused following the death of Zahid.

“The accused (have) already been booked under PSA and now being booked under (IPC) Section 302 for murder. PSA warrants stand issued for five,” he said.

Those booked under the PSA are Sandoor Singh, Danesh alias Pamma, Harish Singh Katoch, Balbahadur Singh alias Abbu and Varinder Singh alias Kaka, an official said.

The DGP said that the district police submitted a dossier of five persons involved in the attack having a criminal history as several FIRs have already been lodged against them.

“These persons have been booked for planning and executing a criminal conspiracy aiming at disturbing peace and public order in the state under the pre-designed and motivated plan,” the DGP said.

The chief minister, in his condolence message, said, “I have no words to condemn the dastardly act which consumed the life of a poor and innocent young boy for no fault of his.”

Expressing deep shock and grief, Sayeed regretted that “one more precious life has been lost to the politics of hate and intolerance that is posing a grave challenge to the state and country’s plurality.”

He said though the loss of life of Zahid in the tragic incident cannot be compensated, he directed the official machinery to extend all possible help to the bereaved family in its hour of grief. He also sanctioned ex-gratia relief.

He had earlier on October 14 visited the Safadrjung hospital to inquire about the health of the injured.

Sayeed had assured the family members that stringent punishment will be given to those found guilty of this heinous crime and that the two families shall be provided government jobs for their sustenance, an official spokesman said.

Image: Family members of 24-years-old Zahid crying after the Kashmiri truck conductor who was injured in petrol bomb attack in Udhampur district dies in Delhis Safdarjung Hospital. Photograph: PTI