Eighteen-month-old Hiba Nisar, the infant who was injured with pellet gun fire in Shopian, has been discharged from hospital after surgery on her right eye. The doctors are not sure if her eyesight will be restored completely.
She was playing inside her house in the south Kashmir district when clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in the wake of an encounter in which six terrorists were killed on Sunday, the infant's mother Marsala Jan said.
"The encounter site is quite far from our house but clashes broke out in our neighbourhood. First, there was tear smoke all around us which caused coughing in Hiba and then there was a sudden bang. My daughter was hit in the eye by a pellet fired towards our home," she added.
Doctors said Hiba underwent surgery as she had suffered corneal perforation, an anomaly in the cornea resulting from damage to the corneal surface, due to the pellets.
"Like most cases, the kid will be able to see but there is no guarantee that her eyesight will be restored completely," the doctor, who treated Hiba said.
The doctor said the treatment is a long process and Hiba's parents will have to take lot of precautions to ensure that she does not get any complications.
"She will have to be brought here for follow-up treatment regularly. Her first appointment is next week," the doctor added.
Two human rights activists have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take cognisance of the incident.
In their plea before the rights body, the activists - Syed Mujtaba Hussian and Mirza Jahanzeb Beg - have sought Rs 10 lakh compensation to the victim.
They also sought an independent investigation into the incident and action against the personnel involved in the firing of pellets.
Pellet guns are used as a crowd control non-lethal weapon by security forces during law and order situations.
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