A 14-year-old girl killed in Army firing in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir in July was part of a “stone-pelting mob”, the Jammu and Kashmir Police told the State Human Rights Commission on Thursday. She was killed by a stray bullet after soldiers opened fire in self-defence, the police said.

The commission had asked the office of the Director General of Police to respond to a notice on the incident. According to Rising Kashmir, the police said that security forces on routine patrolling though the Hawoora village was “heavily pelted upon by mob who were armed with stones, batons etc with intent to kill them”. Police added that the mob pelted stones, forcing the Army to retaliate, in which the girl was killed.

“The angry mob has not allowed autopsy of the deceased, and also took their bodies for last rites,” the police said.

International Forum for Justice Chairperson Ahsan Untoo had filed a petition in the State Human Rights Commission after the 14-year-old girl and a 21-year-old youth were among three persons killed in a village when soldiers of the Indian Army opened fire on civilians amid stone pelting on July 7.