A shopkeeper in Indian Kashmir died after being stoned and beaten for refusing to close his store in line with a protest by anti-Indian demonstrators, police said Thursday. Tariq Ahmad Bhat, 25 was “severely beaten by a group of stone pelters” on December 3 after defying a call to down shutters in support of a demonstration in the Muslim-majority region’s main city, Srinagar, a police statement said. The demonstration was against the arrest of a number of Kashmiri separatist activists. “The miscreants pelted stones at his shop and severely beat him with a cricket bat. He suffered serious head injuries and died Wednesday evening” in a Srinagar hospital, the statement said.
