A class 2 student suffered serious head injury when some people threw stones at the school bus he was travelling in at Shopian on Wednesday.
Eight-year-old Rehan Ahmad Gorsi son of Nooruddin Gorsi, a resident of Zampathri village of Kellar area of Shopian, was admitted to the SKIMS, Soura, after doctors at Shopian district hospital stabilised him for the long travel to Srinagar.
A doctor at the SKIMS said the head CT-Scan revealed the child has a hematoma.
The attack on the bus took place at around 9.30am at Zavoora village.
“The bus was ferrying students of Rainbow International School located at Deegam, Batpora, to their school when some miscreants sitting at a hillock pelted it with stones. One of the stones hit smashed the window pane before hitting Rehan,” a teacher of the school said on the condition of anonymity.
Shopian senior superintendent of police Shailendra Mishra said the police have registered a case and the “culprits will be brought to book”.
Director general of police SP Vaid also said the miscreants “will be taken to task”.
“Complete madness how stone pelters are targeting young school children. These criminals will face the law,” DGP tweeted.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the incident and assured action.
“Shocked & angered to hear of the attack on a school bus in Shopian. The perpetrators of this senseless & cowardly act will be brought to justice,” reads a tweet on CM’s Twitter account.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah condemned the attack in a tweet that reads: “How does pelting stones on school children or tourist buses help advance the agenda of these stone pelters? These attacks deserve our unequivocal condemnation & this tweet is mine.”
Shopian and Pulwama districts were observing a complete shutdown on the third consecutive day against the killing of Hizb commander Sameer Tiger and his associate Aqib who were killed in a gunfight with government forces on Monday.
In Meemandar area of Shopian, protesters tossed a petrol bomb into the home of Peoples Democratic Party leader and MLA Shopian Muhammad Yusuf Bhat.