MUZAFFARABAD:A groom, his father and a cousin were arrested in the early hours of Sunday after celebratory firing at a wedding claimed the life of a nine-year-old boy, police said.

City Police Station House Officer (SHO) Manzar Hussain Chughtai toldDawnthat police received information late on Saturday night that a boy, identified as Haider Ali, son of Majid Malik, had been struck in the head by a bullet and shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in critical condition.

The incident occurred at around 11:45pm in the Plate neighbourhood near Red Fort during the wedding of Qasim Ali, son of Liaquat Ali.

The person who allegedly resorted to firing was identified as the groom’s paternal cousin, Fida Hussain.

The boy later succumbed to his injuries. However, his family submitted a written statement declining a postmortem examination and any further action in the matter.

The SHO said despite the family’s stance, police registered a case under Sections 302, 337-H(2) and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Subsequently, the groom, his father and Mr Hussain were arrested on charges of murder and abetment and lodged at the City Police Station.

The victim’s body was handed over to his family in accordance with the relevant legal procedures, he added.

Police also recovered a 30-bore pistol from the accused and collected spent cartridges from the street where the firing had taken place.

The accused would be produced before a magistrate on Monday for physical remand, the SHO said.

Man drowns

A man from Mohra Sharif, Murree, drowned while bathing in a stream in Atrasi village near Muzaffarabad on Sunday.

According to Javed Gohar, SHO of the Civil Secretariat Police Station, the victim, Nabeel Niaz Gul, had come to the village to celebrate Eid and attend a wedding in his in-laws’ family. On Sunday, he went to the stream along with his teenage brother-in-law and another boy. While taking a bath, he slipped into a deep backwater pool and drowned. When the boys raised the alarm, nearby residents rushed to the scene, retrieved him from the water and attempted to revive him, but he could not survive. The SHO said that Mr Gul had been married only recently.

Meanwhile, in another incident on Sunday, four people sustained serious injuries after a motorcycle and a Suzuki van collided head-on on the Neelum Valley Road. They were shifted to CMH Muzaffarabad for treatment.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2026