Young cricketer from Jammu & Kashmir shot dead

Nayeen Qadir Bhatt, a schoolboy cricketer who represented Jammu & Kashmir, has died after being shot during a demonstration in Handwara, in the state, on Tuesday. Bhatt, a batting allrounder, had been shortlisted for an Under-19 camp organised by the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association in 2015. He was 18.

Bhatt had captained the Jammu & Kashmir team in the National School Championship in Delhi in 2015. He played for the Kashmir Gymkhana, a Srinagar-based club, and in the Downtown Champions League, a T20 competition in the Kashmir Valley.

The incident occurred when the army reportedly opened fire to disperse a stone-pelting mob targeting their bunker in Handwara - a town a couple of hours northwest of Srinagar - over the alleged molestation of a schoolgirl by a member of the security personnel present in the area. Two others were killed in the incident.