J&K and Ladakh High Court Division Bench stays order to exhume body

Srinagar, June 3

A Division Bench of High Court of J&K and Ladakh today stayed a Single Bench order for exhuming the body of a “civilian”, who was dubbed as a terrorist by police during the Hyderpora encounter in November last year, and handing it to his family for last rites.

Hearing a plea filed by the government, the Division Bench comprising Justices Ali Mohammad Magray and Wasim Sadiq Narwal stayed the order passed last week. The HC also listed the matter for next hearing on June 28.

Justice Sanjeev Kumar in his order last week had allowed the plea filed by Latief Magrey, father of Aamir Magray, seeking exhumation of his son’s body.

The court had said that if the body was “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.”

The bodies of two others—Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Mudasir Gul—who were killed in Hyderpora, were exhumed and returned to the families following an outcry days after the encounter.

The father, Mohammad Magrey, is represented by Deepika Singh Rajawat in the high court.