Kashmir: Student Shot Dead By Security Forces

Protesters refused to bury the victim until an investigation was launched 
[Shuaib Masoodi/Al Jazeera]

Srinagar, Kashmir: Protesters in Indian-administered Kashmir demand justice and investigation after army forces shot dead a 19-year-old student.

The army forces had killed Degree College Handwara student Shahid Bashir Mir who they mistook as a rebel.

Kashmir police chief Muneer Khan told reporters that Mir was a civilian and no weapon was recovered from his person.

Mir was picked up by army on Monday and had since been missing, his family members told Al Jazeera.

The army-men on Tuesday claimed that they killed a "militant" during a gunfight in a village forest.

The family searched him everywhere they could but to no avail.

"One day, I got a call from the police station to identify a body. When we went to see it, my son's body was torn apart and his face was disfigured. We were shocked," said Shahid's father, Bashir Ahmad Mir.

The news led to protests on Thursday in Handwara while the government shut down colleges and schools in northern Kashmir to avoid more intense protests.

The protester demand a criminal investigation against the soldiers involved in killing Mir.