Stones pelted at school bus in J&K: Driver narrates how he saved the kids

I sped up the bus as soon as I realised stones were being pelted at the bus, said the driver.

The driver of a private school bus, which was attacked by stone pelters in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, has said that he made all possible attempts to save the students from stones being pelted. Speaking to news agency ANI, the driver said that he sped up the bus soon after realising that stones were being thrown on the bus.

“I sped up the bus as soon as I realised stones were being pelted at the bus. I tried my best to save the students but one student got injured,” said the driver.

The incident occurred on Wednesday morning when a mob pelted stones on the bus of Rainbow High School at Zavoora in Shopian. One student who was hit by the stones has sustained a head injury. The injured student studies in class 2 at the school.

The injured student was rushed to the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) hospital. "Few miscreants gheraoed the school bus and hurled stones at it, one student has been injured. The area has been sanitised and search is on for stone pelters. They will be arrested soon," SSP Shopian Shailendra Kumar said.

Reacting to the incident, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti assured that the attackers would be punished. "Shocked & angered to hear of the attack on a school bus in Shopian. The perpetrators of this senseless & cowardly act will be brought to justice," she tweeted on Wednesday.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah condemned the attack on the school bus questioning what the agenda of the stone pelters was. "How does pelting stones on school children or tourist buses help advance the agenda of these stone pelters? These attacks deserve our unequivocal condemnation & this tweet is mine," Omar wrote on his Twitter handle.