A 13-year-old boy died of bullet injuries when an army jawan allegedly fired at him and three others for trespassing on to residential premises near Fort St George in Chennai on Sunday, triggering protests.
Dilshan, whose father is a labourer, was rushed to a nearby government hospital
after he was shot in the head but couldn’t be saved. The other boys escaped unhurt. The group had gone to the area,housing army residences, to pluck a fruit.
The firing, which took place around 2.15pm, sparked off protests in nearby Indira Nagar area, where Dilshan lived. Around 300 people blocked traffic for more than two hours, demanding action against the jawan.
Condemning the incident, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa alleged that a jawan had opened fire at Dilshan, a charge denied by the Army.
“The Army jawan could have easily realised that the boy who tried to climb a tree was not an extremist or a terrorist… Such opening of fire is not acceptable,” she said, announcing a Rs5-lakh compensation for the boy’s family.
A case for causing death due to negligence has been registered and investigations were being conducted with the military police, city additional commissioner (law and order) P Thamaraikannan said. (With PTI inputs)