Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday met the family of a youth who died of injuries sustained during protests in central Kashmir’s Kangan area. Mufti reached Kangan around 9 am amid tension in the area. While local residents protested against her visit, Mufti met the family members of Gowhar Ahmad Rather (23) and assured them of justice. The family members told her that police had threatened Rather a few days ago, and killed him without any provocation. “Despite security issues, the Chief Minister visited the house of Rather and assured the family that the case will be taken to its logical conclusion,’’ a senior PDP leader who was accompanying Mufti told The Indian Express. Gowhar was the fifth civilian to be killed during protests in Kashmir since the three encounters in the Valley on Sunday. On Wednesday the police suspended a selection grade constable in connection with Rather’s death. Rather was injured in clashes that broke out in Kangan area of Ganderbal district Monday to protest against the killing of 12 militants and four civilians in three encounters a day earlier. He was admitted to SKIMS hospital with “multiple skull fractures” caused by “large metal density foreign body” in his brain, and succumbed on Tuesday. The police had earlier claimed that Rather was neither hit by pellets or bullets. The state government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incidents leading to the death, after images of Rather’s purported CT scan, with a pellet and its fragments in his brain, went viral. Medical Superintendent of SKIMS Dr Farooq Jan confirmed that Rather had sustained “firearm injuries”.
