Ramban, Nov 19: Father of the slain youth Muhammad Amir of Gool, Ramban who was killed in Monday’s Hyderpora encounter, called on Deputy Commissioner and SSP Ramban on Friday to seek return of mortal remains of his son.
Amir’s father, Muhammad Lateif Magray, accompanied by his village sarpanch and several of his relatives, called on Deputy Commissioner Mussarat Islam and SSP Ramban PD Nitya on Friday morning to seek return of Amir’s body.
“ I am not asking for anything except the dead body of my son who is buried in Handwara” said Margay.
He questioned that at a time when the bodies of two Srinagar civilians were handed over to their relatives, why was the body of his son not being handed over to him.
Magray said his son was innocent and “not even remotely connected to militancy”.
District Magistrate Ramban was not available for his comments regarding the issue. However, an official from Ramban administration told this Correspondent that “return of dead body does not fall in his and in the domain of district Ramban”. The matter though has been recommended to higher ups including the inquiry officer (Additional Deputy Magistrate) appointed by the government for magisterial probe of the case, the official said.
It may be mentioned that the Hyderpora encounter had seen killing of four, a foreign militant, a youth Muhammad Amir from Ramban, who as per police was a militant associate but his family denies the claim. The other two slain, included Altaf Ahmad Bhat, owner of the building where the encounter took place and Dr Mudasir Gull, who operated a business in the same building where the counter took place.
While bodies of Bhat and Dr Mudasir were exhumed by the authorities from Handwara in north Kashmir and handed over to respective familie sin Srinagar, Muhammad Amir remains buried at Handwara.