17-year-old boy dies in Kashmir curfew: Report

A 17-year-old boy is reportedly the first victim of the tense curfew situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Huffington Post India reported on Wednesday.

Based on accounts from the family of the victim, the report says that the boy, identified as Osaib Altaf, from Srinagar’s Palpora area, had gone out with a group of friends to play cricket at a local playground on Monday, Aug. 5, when they were suddenly cornered by CRPF personnel on a footbridge.

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According to Mohammad Altaf Marazi, Altaf’s father, the youth jumped into the river to escape. While others survived thanks to the quick response from locals at the spot, Osaib did not survive.

“All of them were cornered by CRPF men on a footbridge as they had come from two opposite sides of the bridge. Seeing no way out, the boys jumped into the river. While others were saved by the quick response of labourers extracting sand on the river, Osaib couldn’t make it. He didn’t know swimming. He remained in the water for 20 minutes,” Marazi told HuffPost.

The report follows a similar story published by AFP earlier in the day. In the story, a police official spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity and revealed that in one incident, a youth being chased by police "jumped into the Jhelum River and died."

In the AFP report, the youth was classified as a protester but did not provide any further details on the identity of the victim. The same report also claimed that at least six people have been admitted to hospital in Srinagar with gunshot wounds and other injuries from protests.

The latest Huffpost report, however, claims that Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital officials in Srinagar reportedly received 13 cases of pellet injuries on the eyes from Srinagar and Ganderbal.

These conflicting reports come at a time when there is a total information blackout in Kashmir since the government announced the scrapping of special status for the state earlier this week.

Meanwhile, scant government reports on the law and order situation described it as “satisfactory”, barring a few stray incidents of stone-pelting.

(PLEASE NOTE: DH has not yet been able to independently verify the findings of the HuffPost India report)