Srinagar July 02:(KNS) Peoples Conference on Thursday demanded an impartial and time bound judicial enquiry into the circumstances that led to the unfortunate killing of Bashir Ahmed Khan in the Sopore encounter yesterday.

“The bereaved family has dismissed the police version of the events that led to the killing of Bashir Ahmed Khan. They have raised some important questions regarding the circumstances in which Bashir Ahmed Khan was killed. While the police and CRPF have already refuted the family’s claims as baseless and reiterated their version of the story, it is hard to imagine that any investigation conducted by the police would be considered fair and just by the bereaved family and the people of Kashmir. In the interest of justice, we demand an impartial and time bound judicial enquiry into the matter. If the police have sufficient evidence to back their claims, as IGP Kashmir suggested, then they should have no reasons to object to an impartial probe demanded by the family members of the deceased”, PC spokesperson Adnan Ashraf Mir said in a statement.

Adnan said that the horrific image of the 3-year-old sitting on the dead body of his grandfather has sparked outraged and infuriated Kashmiris and all the peace loving people across the world.

“To use pictures & videos of a traumatized and tragedy stricken three-year-old boy to further an ugly propaganda campaign is not only unethical but also against all established rules, norms and SOP's followed by police and security forces anywhere across the country.”, he added

Urging the police to identify and punish the officer who took the pictures of the three-year-old boy while the encounter was still ongoing, he asserted that the lack of accountability in such cases will only aggravate the situation in the valley and further erode public’s already fragile trust and confidence in the police

“The brazen violation of the Juvenile Justice Act by publishing pictures of a minor victim of violence must must not be allowed to go unpunished. It is shocking that the police have so far failed to identify the officer who took these photographs, which were also shared by the many high ranking police officers and the official twitter handle of J&K Police. The officer responsible for this violation must be identified and dealt with as per the law”, he concluded.(KNS)