CRPF jawan injured near a shrine during Urs died in Kashmir

Srinagar, Apr 14 (UNI) Restrain shown by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel after one of their colleague was shot dead by unidentified gunmen during the annual Urs celebrations at the shrine of a Sufi saint Sheikh Dawood at Batmaloo, saved a major disaster.

A large number of devotees besides roadside vendors were present when the gunmen shot at and critically wounded a CRPF constable Rajinder Kumar of 164 just in front of the shrine last evening.

The jawan, who was hit in the head, was taken to Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

CRPF spokesman Prabhakar Tripathy told UNI that other CRPF personnel posted near the shrine exercised restrained and did not retaliate to avoid any civilian causality.

It would have been major disaster had the CRPF personnel fired back as a large number of devotees were present in the vicinity, he said.

He said it was an attempt to provoke the CRPF personnel to retaliate so that devotees present there get harmed.

However, people alleged that CRPF personnel later damaged two vehicles parked at Bazar Batmaloo.

Mr Tripathy said strict instructions have been issued to CRPF personnel to exercise restrain so that no innocent is harmed during militant attack.

He said CRPF personnel, before their induction here for counter insurgency, have been taught about Human Rights (HR) and how to deal with the common people.

UNI