Jammu: An Army personnel was killed and a civilian injured as the Pakistani Army heavily shelled villages and forward posts along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts on Thursday, officials said.

This is fourth consecutive day of firing and shelling by the Pakistan Army.

Officials said the Pakistan Army opened fire and shelled civilian areas and forward posts in Nowshera sector this morning, leaving an Army man dead and a villager injured.

Indian troops guarding the borderline retaliated resulting in heavy exchanges, they said. Several houses were damaged as Pakistani troops on Wednesday night opened fire and shelled mortars.

Pakistan targeted over a dozen villages along the LoC in Nowshera and Balakote sectors late Wednesday night with heavy mortars and guided missiles, they said.

People living in border hamlets took shelter in bunkers, they said. The heavy shelling has triggered panic among border dwellers, who have asked authorities to provide them with more bunkers.

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Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Various Dalit organisations on Monday announced a state-wide hartal seeking justice in the death of Kannur Dental College student Nithin Raj.

The hartal will be observed on Tuesday from 6 am to 6 pm.

As many as 52 Dalit organisations, including Justice for Nithin Raj Action Council, have announced the strike.

Organisations requesting cooperation for the strike said that no vehicles will be forcibly stopped and that all essential services are exempted.

Raj, a first-year BDS student at a private dental college in Anjarakkandy in Kannur district, was found critically injured after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.

Police have registered a case against two faculty members on charges of abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, following allegations by the student’s family that he was subjected to caste- and complexion-based harassment.

Kerala Pinnokka Samudaya Munnani (KPSM), one of the organisations supporting the hartal, alleged in a statement that police had shown apathy in the investigation and were attempting to protect the accused in the case.

KPSM state president K V Padmanabhan and general secretary S Anwar alleged that the probe into Raj’s death was being deliberately misdirected and delayed.

While the family has firmly alleged that caste discrimination and mental harassment by faculty members led to the student’s death, police were attempting to divert the investigation towards loan app borrowings, they claimed.

The organisation alleged that this was a planned move to shield the real accused.

KPSM further alleged that by deliberately delaying the arrest of the accused teachers, police enabled them to secure anticipatory bail.

They said there was no confidence in the present police investigation and demanded that the case be handed over to an independent agency at the earliest.