J&K HC orders ₹5L aid to kin of man killed in Hyderpora encounter

Magrey was among four civilians killed along with two terrorists – one foreign and one local – in an encounter in Hyderpora area of Srinagar on November 15.

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh high court on Friday directed authorities to pay a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the family of Amir Latief Magrey, who was among four civilians killed in the Hyderpora encounter last year, and also allow the family to perform some rituals at the graveyard of the deceased.

An encounter took place in Hyderpora area of Srinagar on November 15. (PTI)

Magrey was among four civilians killed along with two terrorists – one foreign and one local – in an encounter in Hyderpora area of Srinagar on November 15. While police claimed the civilians were over ground workers (OGWs) of terrorism, the deceased’s families alleged that they were used by security forces as human shields during the gunbattle.

Fearing trouble, police had buried the bodies in Handwara, around 70 km away from Hyderpora, without the participation of their families. However, the bodies of two of the deceased – businessman Altaf Ahmad Bhat and Dr Mudasir Gul – were later exhumed and handed over to their family members.

However, police insisted Magrey was a terrorist and did not return his body.

On December 30, Magrey’s family had moved the high court, seeking exhumation of his body and also demanded it be handed over to the family for performing last rites at his native village. A single bench had allowed the petition and also awarded compensation of ₹5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.

As the court directed the administration to facilitate transportation of Magrey’s body to his native village in Jammu’s Gool Ramba, it asserted that if the body was found to be “highly putrefied” and its exhuming could cause a risk to the public, the administration would pay a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the family.

The J&K administration appealed against the order in the Supreme Court which stayed the exhumation but asked it to appeal before a larger bench of the high court.

A division bench on Friday agreed with the state counsel that exhumation was not feasible as the body would start decomposing soon after burial. It also noted the kin of the deceased had given up on the plea for exhumation of the body before the Supreme Court.

“Appellants to allow respondent no.1 and his family members (maximum 10 persons) to perform Fatiha Khawani (religious rituals/prayers after burial) of deceased at Wadder Payeen graveyard, on the date and time to be decided in consultation with respondent no.1, subject to taking into account security measures which may be required to be put in place in as much as the Covid-19 guidelines,” the bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Javeed Iqbal said in its order.

“It is made clear that the payment of said compensation by appellants to respondent no.1 shall not form a precedence for future in view of the fact that the said compensation stands awarded to the writ petitioner/respondent no.1 in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the instant case…,” it added.

A Special Investigation Team (STI) of Jammu and Kashmir had ruled out any foul play by security forces in the Hyderpora encounter, claiming that one of the deceased was killed by the foreign terrorist while the other died after he was used as a “human shield”.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had also ordered a probe into the incident.