Minor boy dies on way to hospital in Kashmir

A man has alleged that his 8-year-old son died as he was unable to exchange his old notes for the new currency and get the boy treated at Samba district here, even as the police termed the allegations as "baseless".
Haroon Ahmed, a resident of Bhagoon village, alleged that he had to stand in serpentine queue to exchange his old notes and thus wasted the precious time to get his son treated.
"My son was not well for the past few days and I had no new currency notes in my pocket. I had few old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. I went to the bank in Samba to get them exchanged but after standing in the queue for three days, the same could not be exchanged," he said.

Ahmed added that he carried his ill son on his back and walked over 30 kilometres as no vehicle was offering to take him for want of new currency.
The boy was declared brought dead by the hospital on November 19, the father alleged.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer refuted the "baseless" allegations and said that the man did not take the boy's illness seriously.
"The doctors informed me that the child was suffering from acute pneumonia and his father had not taken the illness seriously. Had he taken the child to the nearby state-run health centre, the life of the child could have been saved as no money is needed for treatment at the government hospital," he said.

The officer added that the allegations that the child died because nobody was ready to accept the banned currency notes were baseless.