SAMBA: Shattered by the killing of her wife by terrorists within minutes after he dropped her at her school in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, Raj Kumar, the husband of slain teacher Rajni Bala, blamed the administration on Tuesday for turning a "deaf ear" to their repeated requests to transfer her to a safer area in view of the targeted killings of Hindus in the Union Territory.
Bala and Kumar were transferred to another school in a safer area only on Monday night.
Tuesday was supposed to be the last day for Bala at her old school.
Kumar said Hindus are soft targets in Kashmir and the administration should relocate them in view of the fear psychosis triggered by the selective killings by terrorists.
Bala (36) was shot in the head on the premises of the school in Kulgam's Gopalpora area and succumbed to her injuries at a hospital, police said.
The killing of Bala, who belonged to Samba district but was posted at a government school in Kulgam, is the second such killing of a Hindu employee in the district and the seventh targeted killing by terrorists in Kashmir in May.
Kumar, who is also a government school teacher in Kulgam, brought his wife's body to their home in Samba.
A pall of gloom descended in the area as the body was brought to her home amid "Rajni Bala Amar Rahe" slogans.
Hundreds of people, including Bala's relatives, thronged the house.
"Had the administration transferred her to a safer place earlier, she might have been alive by now. I curse my destiny. Just a day after her transfer, she was killed by terrorists," Kumar told reporters.
He said they had approached the chief education officer (CEO) for their transfer to a safer place after a member of the Hindu community was killed by terrorists at Kakran, which is close to Bala's place of posting.
"I had given an application to the CEO. We had told him that the school is not safe for my wife, but he did not do anything," Kumar said.
Bala and Kumar were posted in two schools in Kulgam in 2009.
Kumar said he went to the Kulgam CEO again after a few days and requested him for her wife's transfer, but the latter allegedly became angry and threatened him saying Bala will be posted further away.
"After the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit employee, we met the Kulgam deputy commissioner about the security aspects.
The DC called the CEO and directed him to post us in secured places.
The CEO told me that the earlier application was misplaced and asked me to give another application," Kumar said, alleging that the CEO did nothing for the next 12 days.
As nothing happened despite giving the applications and making fervent requests to the CEO for their transfer, the couple met the director of school education in Srinagar on Monday.
"We requested him to post us in one school. We gave him the name of the school and both of us were transferred to that school on Monday night," Kumar said.
"I dropped her at the school and went back to my school. I went to the hospital to get the shocking news that my wife was shot and she died on the spot," he added.
The parents of a 13-year-old girl were living in fear since the targeted killing of Hindus started in the Union Territory.
They were living in a rented accommodation in Kulgam for 14 years.
Terming the killing a "cowardly act", the protesters said assurances given by the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure the safety of minorities in the Valley have proved to be false.
Some even demanded that members of the minority community be provided arms licences to enable them to possess weapons for their protection.
Rajni Bala (36), who belonged to Samba district and was posted at a government school in Gopalpora, was shot in the head by terrorists earlier in the day.
She succumbed to her injuries at a hospital, according to police.
Kashmiri Pandits took out a rally in the Durga Nagar area here to protest Bala's killing and the administration's "total failure" to protect them.
They also raised slogans against Pakistan.
"There have been 22 killings of Hindus by terrorists in the Valley and over 14 people have been injured. Four temples have been attacked. This is an undeclared assault on minorities in Kashmir and the government is saying that the situation is normal," Kashmiri Pandit leader Vinood Tickoo said.
The Dogra Front also took out a protest rally in the city.
Two hundred Bajrang Dal activists also held a protest here against Bala's killing.
They raised slogans against the Jammu and Kashmir administration for failing to protect government employees belonging to the minority community.
They blocked a road for an hour and burnt an effigy of the administration.
The protesters also raised slogans against Pakistan.
"The government should grant us arms licenses, we will fight in Kashmir. Minority Hindu employees serving in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley should also be given weapons for their personal protection," Jammu president of Bajrang Dal Rakesh Kumar told reporters.
Shiv Sena activists led by the party's Jammu and Kashmir unit president Manish Sahni also held a protest against Bala's killing.
At a press conference held at the Shiv Sena's office here, Sahni said the killing of innocent people is intolerable.
The "nefarious acts" of terrorists are increasing day by day.
All the assurances of security given by the central and state governments are proving to be completely false, he said.
Sahni demanded that people be granted arms licenses to be able to fight terrorism in the Kashmir Valley.
Licensed weapons in the hands of people is the only way for them to protect themselves and their families, he added.
Sahni said the targeted killings in Kashmir have created panic among the minorities as well as the majority community.
Activists of Mission Statehood Jammu and Kashmir also held a protest at the Janipur High Court road and blocked traffic.
They raised anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded that all government employees from the minority community be transferred to Jammu from Kashmir.
Mission Statehood Jammu and Kashmir chief Sunil Dimple appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit shah to stop the bloodshed and targeted killings of innocents in Kashmir.
Bala's is the second killing of a non-Muslim government employee in May.
On May 12, Rahul Bhat, a clerk, was shot dead inside the tehsildar's office in Budgam district's Chadoora.
This is also the seventh targeted killing in Kashmir this month.
While three of the victims were off-duty policemen, four were civilians.