Srinagar, May 29 -- He lived with his deaf father and older siblings. His mother was no longer around. He studied at Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute, one of the prominent private schools in the city.

From the outside, it seemed like he was making it. But inside, Numan was under fire for something most teenagers shrug off as rebellion: tattoos.

According to his sister Mehwish, Numan went through four painful sessions to get them removed. Four. The ink faded. The shame didn't.

The school authorities, she said, wouldn't let it go. They kept checking. They kept asking. They even opened his shirt to look. In a classroom, surrounded by peers.

What kind of message does that send to a 14-year-old trying to fit in?

What happened to Numa...