Shoe-thrower mentally unsound: Kashmir Police

SRINAGAR - The Jammu and Kashmir police Sunday said the man who flung a shoe at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during the Independence Day parade here Sunday is a suspended head constable and is “mentally unsound”.

“Abdul Ahad Jan is a suspended head constable of police belonging to Kulgam district (in south Kashmir) and already has a criminal case pending against him,” a police officer said here.

Police said the suspended head constable was also involved in a fake ex-gratia compensation case in which he tried fraudulently to benefit his sister.

Jan was immediately overpowered by the security men after he flung a shoe at the chief minister during the parade at the Bakshi Stadium.

“He is mentally unsound,” said the officer.

Despite these clarifications, how Jan managed to get into the highly secured stadium breaching a ring of security is a question that remains unanswered.

Jan was sitting in the VIP enclosure right behind the podium where Omar Abdullah unfurled the tricolour and took salute when he targetted the chief minister with a shoe.

An unfazed Abdullah said later that it was better to throw shoes than stones as this would not hurt anybody.

“This is a better way of showing protest,” Abdullah said.