Photo of three-year-old Kashmiri boy sitting over bullet-ridden grandfather's body goes viral

Pictures show three-year old boy sitting on top of his motionless grandfather as he cries

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Picture of three-year old boy siting near his grandfather's body has gone viral on social media.

A gut-wrenching picture of a three-year-old Kashmiri boy sitting on the body of his grandfather killed by the Indian forces has gone viral on the internet, drawing ire from social media users.

Bashir Ahmed had gone out of the house to buy groceries when he was caught in the cross-fire in Kashmir’s Sopore district. The relatives of the deceased said Ahmed was taken out of his car and pumped with bullets by Indian soldiers.

The three-year-old boy was later shown sitting on top of his motionless grandfather as he cried. Another video, widely shared on social media showed the boy sitting in the back of a police van and later being led away from the scene.

Hundreds of people in occupied Kashmir staged protests against the Indian government. At Ahmed's funeral, near the main city of Srinagar, they could be heard shouting "We want freedom" from Indian rule.

Relatives of Bashir Ahmed shout pro-freedom and anti-India slogans at Bashir's home during his funeral in Srinagar on July 1,2020.  —AFP/TAUSEEF MUSTAFA

According to Kashmir Media Service, Indian forces martyred 54 Kashmiris including two young boys in June.

The data issued by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service said the killings left two women widowed and five children orphaned.

It added, during the period, at least 29 persons were injured due to the use of brute force including the firing of bullets, pellets and teargas shells by Indian troops and police personnel on mourners and peaceful protesters in the territory.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while sharing a heart-wrenching photo of three-year-old said: "This is the real face of Modi's fascist India."

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aisha Farooqui, also shared the photo, saying: "Searching for words to describe this picture of grief and helplessness of the Kashmiri people in [Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir] today."

Moreover, Amnesty International in India condemned the widespread circulation of the boy's photo, saying that the Kashmir Zone Police by disclosing his identity "stands in violation of Article 74 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015".

"It is also a breach of the 'best interests of the child' principle as required to be the basis of any action by the authorities under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a state party," said the human rights body.