New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court to take a decision, within one week, on a father’s plea to perform last rites of his son who was killed in Hyderpora encounter in Srinagar in November last year.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, representing Mohammed Latif Magry, submitted before a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala that his client will perform the last rites as per religious beliefs and emphasised that he has the right to perform the last rites.
Grover clarified that he was not pressing on the exhumation of the body of the client’s son. He said his client wants relief regarding performing last rites and compensation. A single judge bench of the high court passed a direction regarding Rs 5 lakh but a division bench stayed it.
Noting that the matter is listed before the high court on Tuesday, the bench said: “We’ll request the high court to consider your prayer of alternative relief tomorrow or within 1 week… That much faith we have in the system.”
The bench, in its order, noted that the counsel for the petitioner wants to perform the last rites as per his religious practices at the graveyard where his son was buried. It said it requests the high court to consider the alternative relief either on Tuesday or within a week.
The top court order came on a plea by Magry challenging the June 3 order by the division bench staying the exhumation of his son’s body.
Four people, including Aamir Magry, were killed in the encounter on the outskirts of Srinagar on November 15 last year.
The plea, filed through advocate Nupur Kumar, said: “The impugned interim order is in gross violation of Articles 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India, which uphold and protect right of the deceased to a decent burial by the next of kin following the religious ceremonies and practices.”
On the division bench order staying the single bench order for exhuming the body of Aamir Magry and handing it to his family for last rites, the plea said: “The impugned order without assigning any reasons has stayed the operation of the judgment dated 27.05.2022, by merely observing that ‘the matter requires a final decision from this Court after hearing all the parties’, without appreciating that delay of each day in execution of the judgment of the Ld. Single Judge is resulting in the body of the deceased decomposing.”
The single judge asked the authorities to make arrangements for exhuming the remains of the deceased from the Wadder Payeen graveyard in the presence of Latief Magrey.
“It was further directed that 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 belief in the Wadder Payeen graveyard itself where the deceased is lying buried, and in that situation, the respondents shall pay the petitioner a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for deprivation of his right to have the dead body of his son and give him decent burial as per rites and customs,” added the plea.
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