Four hurt in police firing at protests over Army abuse

Residents here and in nearby Shopian township shut businesses and protested the ‘‘Army’s high-handedness’’. They were marching towards the camp when state police arrived on the scene. Since the group didn’t budge from the spot, police began firing and injured four college students.

Women students narrated events that led to the firing. At 9.30 am, a bus carrying passengers, mostly students, was stopped at the 1RR camp at Chaudhrigund. ‘‘Three Armymen told us that all girls would be taken inside the camp. We were about seven and we tried to resist but they kept pushing us. All the while they were passing obscene remarks at us,’’ added a student.

Police played down the incident. According to their version, four students were injured in a stampede and not by gunshot wounds. This is in contrast to the doctor’s version at Shopian sub-district hospital that three students with gunshot wounds were brought to the hospital.

SP Pulwama Viplav Kumar said: ‘‘Ever since five foreign militants were killed in Shopian, people there have been trying to defame the Army. Our instructions are clear that human rights violations would not be tolerated.’’