Two policemen have been suspended and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted after the killing of 21-year-old Mohammad Parvaz, a tribal youth from the Gujjar-Bakerwal community, in a police firing incident on Thursday evening in Jammu and Kashmir. The shooting sparked widespread protests and drew condemnation from political leaders across J&K.
According to NDTV, Parvaz was shot dead by policemen in civilian clothes in the Satwari area near Jammu while he was reportedly out with a relative to buy medicine. His family said they initially mistook the group of men for cow vigilantes and tried to flee.
The police had initially claimed that officers were fired upon by drug peddlers and that an “unknown person got injured” in crossfire. The Indian Express quoted the police saying, “AA small police team was chasing suspected drug pedlars, and as per preliminary reports, the party was fired upon in the general area of Mandal under Police Station Satwari, and in cross-firing, one unknown person got injured and has been shifted to GMC Jammu.”
The Indian Express reported that source said that later, the youth succumbed to his injuries, leading to protests by his family members and relatives within the hospital premises the same night.
The police also contradicted their initial statement and blamed local media for portraying Mohammad Parvaz as a drug peddler, according to NDTV.
“"The boy (Parvaz) was a martyr and his colleagues are aware of this fact. Our intention is to unite society, not to break it. We have formed an SIT and suspended the two policemen involved in the shootout,” NDTV quoted South Jammu City SP Ajay Sharma as saying. He confirmed the suspension of the two officers involved.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called the killing “highly unfortunate and deeply regrettable.” In a post on X, he wrote, “The use of force by the police has to be calibrated and cannot be indiscriminate… This incident should be investigated in a transparent and time bound manner. I send my condolences to the family of Mohd Parvaz. May Allah grant him Jannat.”
Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the incident. “He’s now been labelled a drug dealer, but even if that is the case, we still live in a democratic country where justice is served through rule of law as opposed to khap panchayats or kangaroo courts,” she wrote on X.
Protests erupted at the hospital where Parvaz was taken. During the protest at the hospital, one of the family members said that Parvaz had just recently got married, that he was never linked to drug peddlers, and he had no criminal record, The Indian Express reported.
Further, on Friday morning, a delegation comprising some relatives of the man and community elders met senior police officers, and following talks, took the body from the hospital’s mortuary. His last rites were conducted by his family on Friday evening.
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