A division bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has stayed the earlier order of the single-bench on exhumation of the body of Amir Latief Magray, one of the four persons who were killed during an encounter in Srinagar’s Hyderpora area on November 15 last year. The victim family’s lawyer, Deepika Singh Rajawat, however, said the court hearing on Friday was held “arbitrarily”, where the stay order was issued on the last day of the court vacation.
The division bench, comprising Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey and Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal, decided to stay “the operation of a judgment dated May 27, 2022”, where the authorities were directed to exhume the body of Mr. Magrey from Jammu’s Ramban and hand it over to the family for a burial at his hometown.
J&K Advocate General D. C. Raina argued that the relief granted by the single bench could not have been granted in terms of the medical science analysis of the dead body, which envisages that the dead body gets putrefied only after a period of one month.
The fresh order was issued on the last day of vacation, as the J&K High Court is closing till June 28.
‘Short notice,’ says lawyer
“The hearing was held arbitrarily. I was put on a short notice. I was travelling in the hills and not wearing my mandatory black gown. Neither the case was handy to me nor the appeal filed by the government. I brought all these things to the notice of the court but still the hearing was held,” lawyer Rajawat told The Hindu.
“I still argued for the rights of the father of Magrey to have the remains of his son,” she added.
The High Court on May 27 had allowed the family of Magray to exhume the body from north Kashmir’s Baramulla for a burial at his native place in Ramban in the Jammu region.
Article 21 extends after death, says judge
“Right to life and liberty guaranteed to a citizen by Article 21 of the Constitution of India includes the right of the citizen to live with human dignity and this right to live with human dignity even extends after death though to a limited extent,” Judge Sanjeev Kumar observed.
The court had directed the J&K authorities to make necessary arrangements for exhumation of the body of Mr. Magray and transport the same in proper escort to Thatharka village in Ramban’s Gool tehsil.
Four persons were killed during an encounter on November 14 and 15, 2021, in Srinagar’s Hyderpora. The police had then claimed that two militants (including Mr. Magray), an over-ground worker and a civilian, were killed in the encounter. However, the families contested the police claim and described Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Dr. Mudasir Gul as civilians. In the face of protests, the bodies of Bhat and Dr. Gul were handed over to their families.
