Bandipora: An elderly women died allegedly due to suffocation caused by tear and pepper gas used by government forces in Hajin town of Bandipora district in North Kashmir here on Wednesday. The Police however denied the allegations.
There were large scale teargas shelling and pepper gas used by police to quell protesters in the Hajin. “My wife developed serious complications and couldn’t even breathe properly,” said Nazir Ahmad, adding, “She fell unconscious and when we took her to hospital, she was declared brought dead.” The deceased women was identified as Hajira Begum.
When contacted BMO Hajin Dr Tariq said that that the woman died of cardio-pulmonary arrest. “she was an asthma patient and was discharged from hospital some days before,” he added.
“His family said that choking was aggravated by teargas smoking shells and exact death would be known by postmortem report.”
Police speaks
“A CASO was launched on a specific information in Mir Mohalla Hajin today at 2pm. When government forces were closing the cordon at about 6pm, some miscreants pelted stones on the forces during withdrawal. The miscreants were dispersed following proper SOP with slight tear gas shelling,” a police official said .
“Meanwhile, a lady namely Hajira Begum W/o Nazir Ahmad Dar died reportedly from a cardiac arrest in Danger Mohalla Hajin,” the official said, adding, “There are rumors circling on social media that the lady died due to forces action. It is pertinent to mention here that Doctors when contacted reported that the lady was brought dead in the hospital and the cause of death is sudden cardiac arrest. No injury marks was found on the dead body.” The police official further said: “It is also important to mention here that there was no law and order problem in Danger Mohalla, which is about 1 Km away from the spot, where CASO was launched. Bandipora police appealed people not pay heed to the rumours & also strict legal action will b taken against the rumour-mongers.”
