J&K: 22-year-old Chennai tourist dies after hit by stone near Srinagar

Srinagar: A tourist from Tamil Nadu died in a Srinagar hospital on Monday evening after he was hit by a stone during a clash between the security forces and protesters at Narabal near here earlier during the day.

A report said that the victim identified as 22-year-old R. Thirumani from Chennai was hit in the head by a stone when the vehicle he along with his family was travelling in between Srinagar and Kashmir’s premier resort of Gulmarg was caught in the clash between a stone-pelting crowd and the security forces at Narabal on the outskirts of Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar. Four other persons including a girl from Handwara area of frontier Kupwara district were injured in the incident, the police sources said.

Mr. Thirumani son of Rajaveel was rushed to a City’s hospital where he succumbed to his injuries in the evening.

SSP Budgam said that the vehicle in which the family from Chennai was travelling came under stone pelting near Narabal bridge on Monday morning. “He was critically injured in his face. He was rushed to hospital where he passed evening in the evening,” he said.  

Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, visited the police hospital here after learning about the death of the tourist. She met the family members of the deceased, offered her condolences and apologized over the incident.

A statement issued by her office here said Ms. Mufti has expressed deep anguish and shock   over the death of tourist  R Thirumany. “The Chief Minister visited the police hospital late evening where she met the family of the deceased and expressed solidarity with them in this time of grief”, the statement added.

On Tuesday, Ms. Mufti took to Twitter to condemn the incident. She said, “It’s truly heartbreaking when a family saves for years to realise their dream of visiting Kashmir & while they are here they face their worst nightmare. I have no words strong enough to condemn this tragic incident or even begin to condole the family”.

In another tweet, she while reiterating her stance on the Kashmir imbroglio said, “Without a sustained, meaningful dialogue & outreach, not just from the govt but from the entire country, J&K will get pushed deeper into this vortex of gloom. My deepest condolences to the deceased’s family & my prayers go out to the girl who was injured in the same incident."

Her predecessor and opposition National Conference working president, Omar Abdullah, who is on a visit of Drass in frontier Ladakh tweeted, “We’ve killed a tourist by throwing stones at the vehicle he was travelling in. Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone pelters & their methods”.

Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and chairman of his faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference alliance, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, also condemned the incident. He tweeted, “Deeply saddened by the news of death of a tourist due to stone pelting. Condemn such hooliganism and rowdiness. It is totally against our ethos of treating tourists as respected guests and brings a bad name to the peoples’ movement”.

There has been widespread outrage in the Valley against the incident and many people also took to Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to express their resentment and condemnation.