Seven-year-old boy loses eye to pellet injuries, say doctors

13-year-old Mir Arfat from Khanabal area of Anantnag district has been hit by pellets in his vital organs and is battling for life at SMHS hospital here.

The Class 7th student—the latest victim of ‘deadly’ pellets—has pellets in his heart, intestines, abdomen, chest, neck, eyes and in his spinal-cord area as well, said a senior doctor who examined Arfat.

“We can’t say anything about his condition right now. The priority is that his condition should remain stable first. We will monitor him for next 12 hours and then only a decision will be taken on operating him for removing pellets from his heart cavity,” said the doctor.

Arfat, who is conscious but writhing in pain, frequently cries for help while his hands are held tight by his father, Ghulam Nabi Mir.

“Look what they have done to my son,” the visibly-disturbed Mir said.

Mir said his son, along with three other boys from the locality, had gone out of their houses for a walk after the authorities had lifted curfew from the area.

“They had just entered a park on a roadside when a police vehicle passed by and fired pellets at them,” said Mir. “There were no protests in the area.”

There are visible pellet injuries, more than 100, on the body of Arfat—all above his waist. Some of these pellet injuries have been marked by the doctors.

“These (marked) pellet injuries are a concern. Some of the pellets have hit him near his spinal cord. We will assess his situation before taking a decision on operating him,” said the doctor.

Another doctor said the worry is that if a decision was taken on operating him for injuries in any of his vital organs, his condition shouldn’t deteriorate due to injury in other organs injured by the pellets.

“He has pellets everywhere. Not a single vital organ seems to have been spared,” the doctor said.

As per hospital records, although the general condition of the patient is stable, there is bleeding in his chest and some fractures in his skull. He has multiple contusions (ruptured tissues) in lungs.

“He is being monitored,” Principal GMC Srinagar, Dr Kaiser Ahmed said. “Currently, he is stable but being observed.”

In the same incident, a seven-year-old child Asif Rashid has lost his eye to pellets. “Pellets have penetrated his right eye on one side and exited from the other side,” a doctor from Department of Ophthalmology said. “That is a bad sign. His eye is completely damaged.”

The seven-year-old child, his mother said, had sneaked out of the house to buy biscuits. “Is he a stone-pelter? Just look at him,” his mother wept by his bed side.

“He is a child. He would want to go to a shop,” his father, a daily wager in Khanabal, said.

Doctors said although the globe of his eye was intact, there was enormous tissue damage.

“Asif had sustained critical injuries in his eye and throat,” a doctor said.

Talking to media-persons, Asif’s father said: “Look at my son, he is so young. Pray for him. He should regain vision in his eye; otherwise his life will be ruined.”