Protestors in Rajouri after last week's killing, demading the Village Defence Committees be disbanded.
A woman and her four year old son were shot dead in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir today by her alleged stalker, a member of a Village Defence Committee - a body of civilian volunteers armed by the government to fight militants.
Police sources told NDTV that Shamima Akhtar, 35, and her son Towheed Ahmad were killed when the volunteer, named Mushtaq Ahmad, fired at them.
Ms Akhtar was preparing for lunch in her kitchen when Ahmad barged into her home in Budhal area of Rajouri district and resorted to indiscriminate firing. Both mother and child died on the spot. While details of what provoked the firing are not known, the accused had allegedly been stalking Ms Akhtar whose husband works in Saudi Arabia, sources said.
The killings triggered protests. This is the second incident of a civilian being killed by a committee member in Rajouri, within a week. Earlier, a worker of the opposition party National Conference had been shot dead in the Kalakote area of the district.
Village defence committees were set up by the government in 1995 like the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. The Judum was banned and declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 2011 triggering a demand in Jammu and Kashmir that such committees be disbanded.