J&K: Rahul Bhat’s wife gets appointment letter, ₹5-lakh ex gratia

Jammu divisional commissioner Ramesh Kumar along with additional director general of police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh, handed over an appointment letter and ex gratia to the family of Rahul Bhat, a migrant Kashmiri Pandit government employee who was gunned down in the Valley recently.

“The government has sanctioned compassionate appointment of Meenakshi Raina, wife of late Rahul Bhat of Sangrampora Beerwah Budgam. She has been appointed in the government higher secondary school, Nowabad, Jammu (school education department) on compassionate grounds,” said an official statement issued late Wednesday.

A financial assistance of ₹5 lakh was also handed over to the family.

Jammu deputy commissioner Avny Lavasa had also accompanied Kumar.

Rahul Bhat was killed by terrorists inside the tehsil office in Budgam’s Chadoora on Thursday.

He was the second Kashmiri Pandit to have been shot dead in the last seven months. A prominent member of the Kashmiri Pandit community, chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo, was gunned down on October 6, 2021.

As many as 14 people belonging to Jammu and Kashmir’s minority Hindu community, including Kashmiri Pandits, have been killed by militants in various parts of Kashmir between August 2019 and March 2022.

Those targeted included prominent businessmen, sarpanchs and block development council members.

There has been a spurt in attacks on non-Muslims and outsiders living in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, in August 2019.