New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, June 24 agreed to hear on June 27 a plea filed by a man seeking a direction to exhume the body of his son, who was dubbed a terrorist and killed along with three others in the controversial Hyderpora encounter in November 2021, and hand it to his family for last rites.
A vacation bench of Justices C.T. Ravi Kumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia was told by senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for Mohammad Latief Magrey, that a single judge bench of the Jammu and Kashmir high court had allowed the exhuming of his son’s body but it was later stayed by a division bench.
“The father is supporting the army. Four people were buried and two were allowed to be exhumed. The single judge bench allowed me to give me the remains of my son but the division bench stayed the order of the single judge bench. Every day the body lies on the earth. I must get the body and perform rituals. Your lordships may list it on Monday [June 27] and allow me to take my chance,” the senior counsel said, urging the bench to list the matter urgently for hearing, LiveLaw reported.
The bench said it would hear the petition on June 27.
The case so far
Aamir was among four persons – including a suspected Pakistani terrorist identified by J&K Police as Haider alias Bilal Bhai – who were gunned down in Hyderpora on the outskirts of Srinagar by security forces on November 15 last year.
Although the security forces had claimed that Aamir was an active terrorist while the other two slain persons were associates of terrorists, their families have denied the claims.
After the encounter, the bodies of all the four persons were buried overnight on November 15 in a remote village in Handwara, some 90 kilometres from Srinagar.
The Wire had reported that the Army made contradictory claims on the intelligence input that led to the alleged encounter. The Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps had claimed that the joint operation was carried out on intelligence inputs of J&K Police. Police said it was the Army’s 2nd Rashtriya Rifles which gave intelligence inputs.
Also read: ‘Want to Bring Him Home’: HC Allows Family of Man Killed in Hyderpora Encounter to Exhume Body
On May 27, the high court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh ruled that the State cannot deny the constitutional right, which also includes right of the next of kin of the deceased to have their dear one cremated or buried as per the religious obligations and religious belief, in the name of preventing law and order situation going out of hand.
A bench of justice Sanjeev Kumar made this ruling while allowing a petition filed by Magrey, seeking decent burial of his son, who was killed in the Hyderpora encounter.
However, on June 3, a division bench of the high court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh stayed the single bench order for exhuming the body of Aamir and handing it to his family for last rites.
(With inputs from PTI)