Festive firing: Stray bullet kills 10-year-old

Men had started firing bullets in the air when the wedding procession approached in front of groom’s brother house

BAHAWALPUR:

Hasilpur police have registered a murder case on a complaint by a man whose younger brother was killed on Saturday night from a stray bullet at a wedding ceremony in the area.

SHO Azhar Hussain told The Express Tribune that a team had been formed to investigate the matter and identify the culprits.

Earlier on Sunday, dozens of residents of Chak 143 had staged a demonstration over the death of 10-year-old Mohammad Nadeem. Nazeeran Bibi, mother of the deceased, threatened to commit suicide if the people responsible for the incident were not arrested by the police.

Complainant Maqsood Ahmed, elder brother of the deceased child, stated in the FIR that some men had started firing bullets in the air when the wedding procession approached in front of groom’s brother Ashfaq Jutt’s house. One of these bullets struck Nadeem in the head. He said the child was taken to district headquarters (DHQ) hospital where he died. Doctors who treated the child said too much blood had been lost by the time he reached the hospital. The complainant said the child was a fifth grade student at a public school in the village.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.