The Indian Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday (June 27) a plea filed by a man from Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir seeking a direction to exhume the body of his son, who was martyred by Indian troops in a fake encounter in November 2021, and hand it to his family for last rites.
A vacation bench of justices CT Ravi Kumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia was told by senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for Mohammad Latief Magrey, that a single judge bench of the IIOJK High Court had allowed the exhuming of his son’s body but it was later stayed by a division bench.
He said that his client has supported the Indian Army all through his life, and the only need to exhume the body was to perform the last rites of his son Aamir Magrey, who was martyred along with three other civilians in the fake encounter.
Grover sought urgent listing of the plea, saying that with every passing day, it would get more difficult to exhume the body and that he has several judgements of the top court in his favour.
The bench said it would hear the petition on June 27. On May 27, the single judge bench had directed the IIOJK authorities to make arrangements for exhuming the remains of the deceased from the Wadder Payeen graveyard in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district in the presence of Latief Magrey.
However, on June 3, a division bench of the High Court of IIOJK stayed the single bench order for exhuming the body of Aamir Magrey and handing it over to his family for last rites.—KMS
