Raja fell to army bullet: Family

Raja fell to army bullet: Family
With strict curfew outside, the setting within the two-storey muddy house of Abdul JabbarPandit here in LangateChowk on Baramulla–Kupwara highway manifests the mourning the area is witnessing for last two days. Inside the rooms of the house, dozens of people, including many women, have assembled to express their solidarity with the bereaved family of slain Raja Begum (53) wife of Abdul Jabbar, who was hit by a bullet in her head on Tuesday evening.
Raja - mother of two and wife of a farmer- was hit by the bullet allegedly fired by the army when she was working in her vegetable garden at Dandkadal, about a kilometer away from Handwara town. Raja was shifted to District Hospital Handwara but was instantly referred to SKIMS Srinagar where she succumbed to her injuries late Tuesday night.
“Administration tried to create confusion by stating that she died mysteriously,” said Fayaz Ahmad, Raja Begum’s cousin who accompanied her to hospital. “She was killed by 21 Rashtriya Rifles soldiers stationed at Marhatgam,” Fayaz added.
He said that soldiers fired from their post they have erected at an elevated place in Marhatgam village. “We heard gun shots but took it is easy,” said Muhammad Subhan, another cousin of Raja. “After 10 minutes we were informed that Raja is injured.”
“She was in a pool of blood and we removed her to Handwara Hospital,” Fayaz said, adding that doctors referred her to SKIMS Soura. “Her brain was damaged due to bullet injury and ultimately caused her death,” reads the death certificate issued by the doctors at SKIMS.
The group of assembled people said that there was no effect of Handwara incident in the area, where army had killed two youths. “Here everything was normal. We were only inquiring about Handwara when the tragedy fell upon us,” they said.
Raja, according to Fayaz, was tilling in the patch of land on which the family grows vegetables for their consumption.  “Only one bullet had pierced through her head.”
Her husband breaks his silence. “What was her sin? Why did they kill her,” he asked.
In another room, dozens of women were trying to console the inconsolable family members. “She was not wielding a gun. They did not even spare her,” says Shabnum Begum, one of the mourners.
The mourners have to face lot of problems while reaching the bereaved family as whole area was under strict curfew. Army, police and CRPF personnel were deployed outside in large numbers. The road was closed with barbed wire.
“After the killing they (forces) do not allow us to visit the bereaved,” said a group of mourners. “We reached here one by one.”