Vendor injured in anti-encroachment drive in uptown

Srinagar, Apr 25: A vendor was injured on Wednesday when he entered into a brawl with police during an anti-encroachment drive at Hari Singh High Street (HSHS) here.
The witnesses said that the vendor, Zahid Ahmad, who sells cloth, was busy with his work when a team of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) officials and police arrived at his stall.
“He has been selling clothes at HSHS for a long time. A policeman asked him to vacate the place occupied by him illegally. He agreed to leave in a while,” a witness said.
He said the policeman again asked him to leave, enraging the vendor, who tried to snatch his rifle.
The policemen had to rescue their colleague, he said.
“Zahid was beaten ruthlessly. He was taken to the SMHS Hospital for treatment, where he received several stitches in his head,” he said.
Hilal Ahmad Wani, also a vendor, said Zahid did not try to snatch the rifle.
“He was beaten up by police. He is a young person, around 16 years of age. He is lying in the hospital. It is highhandedness,” he said.
Hilal said that they have occupied the area to earn their livelihood.
“We have families. We earn some pennies here and feed our families. We don’t have any other source of income. We were never provided shops by anyone. We will block the roads,” he said.
Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Shaheed Gunj, Imran Malik said that he was not aware of the incident.
Station House Officer (SHO), Shaheed Gunj, Tanveer Jehangir also said that he was not aware of the incident.