Hyderpora Encounter : High Court Hears Arguments Of J&K Advocate General

Arguing for the UT administration, Advocate General D C Raina submitted submitted that the Single Judge had erred while recording that the body of Amir Magrey was denied just because no public pressure was built for exhumation his body and that he was being discriminated just because he belonged to a far flung area. Refuting these observations, AG submitted that the body of deceased was not handed back solely because of the apprehension of law and order problem that may arise.

Advocate General further argued that as per the investigation in the matter, the locus of the son of the Respondent-petitioner is completely different from the ones whose bodies were earlier exhumed and handed over to their respective families.

Arguing further, the AG severely contested the directions of 5 lack compensation that had been ordered by the single bench, saying that doing so would set a precedent wherein floodgates of litigation would be opened in future whenever a millltant or an over ground worker gets killed in a police encounter.

It may be recalled that it on Monday(June 27), the Supreme had considered a Special Leave Petition filed by Latief Magrey challenging the order dated June 3 passed by the division bench of J&K&L High court which had stayed the exhumation of his son's body. Before the Supreme Court, Magrey's counsel Senior Advocate Anand Grover submitted that he was not pressing the relief for exhumation and and was only pursuing the reliefs for performing last rites as per religious faith at the graveyard where the body has been buried. The petitioner had further requested the bench to also consider the direction with regards to the compensation of Rs 5 lakh which was passed by the Single Judge.

Without getting into the merits of the matter, the Supreme Court asked the High Court to decide the father's plea within a week.

The Division bench of Justice Ali Mohammad Magray and Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal earlier this month on June 3rd 2022 had the stayed operation of a judgment passed by Justice Sanjeev Kumar, wherein he had directed authorities to exhume the body of Amir Latief Magrey one of the four persons killed in Hyderpora encounter in November last year. The single judge had also directed the authorities to pay a compensation of Rupees 5 Lakh if the body was highly putrefied and not in a state to be delivered back. The Single Judge had also directed the respondents to make appropriate arrangements for transportation of the dead body to the village of the petitioner in accordance with the religious beliefs of the deceased.

Aggrieved of the single bench order the UT administration had challenged the same before the division bench which as an interim relief had stayed the operation of the single bench judgement till next date of hearing.