Boy shoots himself in head while taking selfie in India

Patna: A teenage boy in Bihar died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while taking a selfie with his father’s licenced rifle. The victim’s father is a contractor and is said to be associated with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

Police said the victim Himanshu Kumar, a resident of Gopalganj district, picked up his father’s rifle and was posing for a selfie with the firearm at home on Friday evening when he accidentally pulled the trigger. Hearing the gunshot, the family members rushed to the spot and found him lying in a pool of blood. He was immediately rushed to the local hospital when he succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

“The family members said the boy was killed while taking a selfie with his father’s rifle. We are investigating the case,” local police station in-charge Dinesh Kumar Yadav said. He said one empty cartridge had been recovered from the spot.

According to family members, the victim was preparing for a competitive exam at Kota town, known as the coaching city, in Rajasthan and had returned to his home after the coaching institute got shut due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The deadly fads for selfies with firearms, running trains and along turbulent rivers have claimed many lives in Bihar in recent months.

In August last, two youths were killed when they fell on a railway track and were run over by a speeding train.

In another incident, a 22-year-old youth was electrocuted after he came in contact with high tension live wires while taking selfies atop a stationary goods train in Muzaffarpur district.

Similarly, two engineering students met watery graves while taking selfies along the bank of Ganga river in Bhagalpur district.