A picture of a 3-year-old boy sitting on the corpse of his grandfather in the Sopore area of North Kashmir went viral on social media. The images of the helpless and petrified three-year-old broke the hearts of social media users. They rallied to sympathize with the innocent wailing kid.
The reports claim, the three-year-old boy witnessed the killing of his grandfather when he suffered bullet injuries during the crossfire between the Indian armed forces and militants in Kashmir on Wednesday. The man and boy got stuck in the crossfire.
https://twitter.com/Umaisar_Gull/status/1278193282133053440?s=20
3-year-old boy witnessed the killing of his grandfather in Kashmir
The 60-year-old man died on the spot after receiving two bullet injuries. Meanwhile, the encounter left the boy shocked and appalled. The boy started crying as he saw the body of his grandfather covered in blood.
The Police reached the spot in Sopore, they rescued the boy and took him to a shelter. The boy cried hysterically in fear and shock. Meanwhile, one of the Police officers carried the boy away from the site.
Devastating images of a toddler checking on his grandfather killed by Indian Army in #Sopore Kashmir. What kind of savages kill civilians in front of grandchildren? Do militaries not realise cost of violence on civilians & how that translates into long term resentment & violence?
— Usama Khilji (@UsamaKhilji) July 1, 2020
The images showed the boy even tried to wake his grandfather up. A video of the boy wailing in the police van went viral on social media later. The video attracted colossal reactions from netizens in Pakistan and India.
https://twitter.com/TrimiziiiSyeda/status/1278232306151493632?s=20
Social media users sympathized with the deceased man, expressed love for the innocent boy weeping uncontrollably in the viral video.
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However, Indian security agencies say the man died during the cross-firing. The family of the deceased says he died due to the Indian security forces’ fire. They say security personnel dragged him out of the car and killed him.
https://twitter.com/_graveyardd/status/1278215363700785153?s=20
Social media reacts to the images of 3-year-old Kashmiri boy
The disturbing images and videos of the three-year-old boy sitting on the body of his grandfather in Kashmir generated huge reactions. Several Bollywood celebrities slammed the Indian media and publications for putting the pictures of the wailing and petrified three-year-old child on social media. The Indian media split into two categories-a group of netizens slammed Indian forces CRPF for the killing while another group praised the security forces for rescuing the child.
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Meanwhile, the image of an Indian armed officer with the boy in his arms went viral on social media. Scores of Indians praised the man for protecting the child.
Indian social media users including model and Bollywood actress, Dia Mirza, slammed the media and publication for sharing the pictures of the innocent boy and the deceased Kashmiri. A section of the media accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism and chaos in Indian Occupied Jammu Kashmir.
https://twitter.com/MushaalMullick/status/1278252455390740480?s=20
Currently, #KashmirBleeds and #Kashmir are trending atop on Twitter. The Pakistani social media users are expressing grief and sadness over the recent wave of clashes in Jammu Kashmir. Certain images circulating on social media even showed Indian forces walking over the body of the deceased man that challenged claims of Indian forces that militants had killed the victim.
The insurgency in Jammu Kashmir heightened after the revocation of Article 370 and 35-A by the BJP government in New Delhi in August 2019. Soon after the revocation, the Indian forces imposed a lockdown and clamped down the communication in the valley.