Militants chop off ears of two on election duty

Militants today chopped off the ears of the sarpanch and a villager of Malas in Udhampur for taking part in the election process in the Valley.

‘‘The assistant returning officer in the area had asked the naib sarpanch and other villager to distribute polling serial number to villagers and tell them about the polling booth where they have to cast their vote. It was during the process the militants abducted them,’’ said Reasi SSP J.L. Sharma. Naib sarpanch Misruddin and Haji Amkala were distributing serial numbers for the polling scheduled on May 10 when militants kidnapped them from Malas village in Mahore tehsil last night. The militants chopped off Misruddin’s left ear and Amkala’s right ear before freeing them today. A third villager, who was accompanying the duo, was spared as he was not carry anything with him. They did, however, hit him with rifle butts for helping the sarpanch.