Hyderpora encounter: J&K high court orders exhuming body of third civilian

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday ordered that the body of a civilian dubbed a terrorist and killed by police during an encounter in Hyderpora last November be exhumed and handed to his family for last rites.

The court also ordered the administration to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the deceased Amir Magrey’s father, the petitioner, if the body has been decomposed or is likely to pose a risk to public health and hygiene during the burial.

“I am inclined to allow this petition of the father of the deceased Amir Latief Magrey and direct the respondents (Jammu and Kashmir government) to make arrangements for exhumation of the body/remains of the deceased…from the Wadder Payeen graveyard in presence of the petitioner,” Justice Sanjeev Kumar said in his 13-page order.

The court said that however, if the body is, “highly putrefied and is not in deliverable state or is likely to pose risk to public health and hygiene, the petitioner and his close relatives shall be allowed to perform last rites as per their tradition and religious beliefs in the…graveyard itself.”

In that situation, the State shall pay to the petitioner Mohammad Latief Magrey a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for deprivation of his right to have the dead body of his son and give him a decent burial as per the family traditions, religious obligations and faith which the deceased professed when he was alive, the order said.

Two more civilians Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Dr Mudasir Gul, who were killed in the encounter, were exhumed and returned to the families following an outcry, days after the encounter.

Mohammad Latief Magrey was represented by Deepika Singh Rajawat in the high court. (PTI)