Hyderabad:
After two school students were accidentally shot dead in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday when a constable accidentally fired his loaded weapon, the state police is critically reviewing safety loopholes in public weapons display exercises.
On the day of the tragic deaths, Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Khan had allowed school students to familiarise themselves with police weapons as part of a state-wide PR exercise to reach out to Gen-Next.
In a sort of Show and Tell, a group of policemen were visiting a school to share what their jobs entail. The policemen's field trip was meant to help people learn more about- and respect- the Andhra Police Force, ahead of its annual commemoration day.
They brought weapons with them to the school as part of their introduction. The weapons, naturally, were not meant to be loaded.
And then, a constable named Srinivas offered to show the children how he loads his weapon.
"He said I will show you how it is fired and that's when five of us got hit," says Kishore, a class VII student whose right leg suffered a bullet injury.
Two young boys who were killed in the accidental firing were Class 10 student Venkatakrishna Class 8 student Satya Saibabu.
The state police chief says weapons on display are never loaded. Hence it was sheer negligence and misplaced enthusiasm that the constable was allowed to bring the loaded weapon and show it to children.
Shocked at the incident, angry locals marched to the local police station with the bodies of the students who were killed.
The constable was later suspended, arrested and charged with causing death due to negligence.
The Andhra Police announced compensation of four lakh rupees for the families of the children who died. Their family members will also be offered jobs as home guards.
The state police will now review if familiarisation exercises like this should continue where children are freely exposed to weapons.
On the day of the tragic deaths, Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Khan had allowed school students to familiarise themselves with police weapons as part of a state-wide PR exercise to reach out to Gen-Next.
In a sort of Show and Tell, a group of policemen were visiting a school to share what their jobs entail. The policemen's field trip was meant to help people learn more about- and respect- the Andhra Police Force, ahead of its annual commemoration day.
They brought weapons with them to the school as part of their introduction. The weapons, naturally, were not meant to be loaded.
And then, a constable named Srinivas offered to show the children how he loads his weapon.
"He said I will show you how it is fired and that's when five of us got hit," says Kishore, a class VII student whose right leg suffered a bullet injury.
Two young boys who were killed in the accidental firing were Class 10 student Venkatakrishna Class 8 student Satya Saibabu.
The state police chief says weapons on display are never loaded. Hence it was sheer negligence and misplaced enthusiasm that the constable was allowed to bring the loaded weapon and show it to children.
Shocked at the incident, angry locals marched to the local police station with the bodies of the students who were killed.
The constable was later suspended, arrested and charged with causing death due to negligence.
The Andhra Police announced compensation of four lakh rupees for the families of the children who died. Their family members will also be offered jobs as home guards.
The state police will now review if familiarisation exercises like this should continue where children are freely exposed to weapons.
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