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Three months after wedding youth shot dead in Jammu; Police say crossfire, family calls it murder

by News Desk

Mohammad Parvez, a 21-year-old Gujjar youth from Nikki Tawi in Jammu, was shot dead on Thursday evening in what the police described as crossfire during a chase involving suspected drug peddlers. But his family has strongly rejected the police narrative, calling it a “cold-blooded murder.”

Parvez, a daily-wage labourer who had been married just three months ago, had left home around 3 p.m. with his brother-in-law to buy medicine for a sick family member. According to his family, they were passing through Surre Chak in the Phallian Mandal area when a group of men in plainclothes approached them. Mistaking them for cow vigilantes, the two grew scared and ran. Moments later, Parvez was shot.

“My brother ran for his life, thinking he was being attacked. He didn’t even look back,” said Mohammad Farooq, Parvez’s elder brother. “They shot him. What was his crime? That he belonged to a poor Gujjar family?”

The Jammu and Kashmir Police issued a brief statement hours after the killing, stating, “A small police team was chasing suspected drug peddlers in the general area of Mandal under Police Station Satwari. During the operation, the team came under fire. In the cross-firing, one unknown person sustained injuries and was shifted to GMC Jammu. Further investigation into the matter is underway.”

The family, however, said Parvez had no involvement in drugs or any criminal activity. “There is not a single FIR against him,” said his sister, who sat crying outside the Government Medical College Hospital mortuary through the night. “He just got married three months ago. His wife keeps asking where he is. What do we tell her — that the police gave him a bullet instead of medicine?”

The family refused to take the body initially, demanding a formal murder case be registered and calling for a judicial probe. “We are six brothers, all labourers. Let them shoot us all if they think we are criminals,” Farooq said.

Suspensions, Compensation, and a Growing Outcry

The killing triggered a sharp response from Gujjar community leaders and political activists, who accused the police of staging yet another encounter and targeting tribal youth with impunity.

Terming the incident “highly unfortunate and deeply regrettable,” Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah said, “This incident must not be brushed under the carpet. It should be investigated in a transparent and time-bound manner. The truth must come out and those responsible should be held to account.”

“This was a fake encounter, and everyone knows it,” said Guftar Ahmad, a prominent Gujjar activist and lawyer. “He was killed first and declared a criminal later. The police cannot play executioner. We want a judicial probe, not another internal inquiry meant to protect the killers.”

Zahid Parwaz Choudhary, who heads the Gujjar Bakerwal Youth Welfare Conference, said Parvez’s death was “part of a larger pattern.” “This is a selective killing. The police are not answerable, because our community has no voice, no representation. If the killers are not jailed and dismissed, we will not remain silent.”

The Aam Aadmi Party’s Doda MLA Mehraj Malik also called it a “cold-blooded murder” and questioned why the youth was shot if there was no exchange of fire witnessed by bystanders or locals. “Even if he was a suspect, India is not a jungle. We have courts, laws. You don’t shoot a person based on suspicion.”

Former JK Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti demanded an impartial investigation: “Killing poor tribals and branding them criminals after the fact has become routine. This must stop. Parvez’s family deserves justice, not cover-ups.”

The government later announced that two policemen had been suspended, and Parvez’s family would receive compensation and a government job. But the family insists that’s not enough.

“We want the men who killed my brother arrested and jailed,” Farooq said, his voice trembling. “No money can bring him back. He was the youngest, the most loved. We want justice, not charity.”

The body of Mohammad Parvez was finally taken to Nikki Tawi early on Friday. His funeral was attended by hundreds of villagers and community members, many of whom raised slogans demanding accountability and an end to what they called the “hunting of Gujjar youth.”