HC upholds compensation to family of Ramban youth killed in Hyderpora shootout

Srinagar: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh on Friday upheld the Rs 5 lakh compensation to the family of Aamir Magrey, who was killed in the Hyderpora shootout November last year and directed the government to allow the kin to perform some rituals at the graveyard of the slain youth.
A division bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Javed Wani, while disposing of an appeal by the state against a single bench order, upheld the compensation amount. “It is made clear that the payment of the said compensation by the appellants to the respondent no. 1 shall not form a precedence for future …,” the bench said on its 11-page order.
The court also directed the government to allow the father and nine other relatives of the deceased youth to perform fatiha at grave of Magrey at Wadar Payeen in Handwara area of north Kashmir.
Lateef Magray, father of Amir Magrey, had filed a writ petition seeking exhumation of his son’s body and also demanded it be handed over to the family for performing last rites at his native village. The single bench had allowed the petition and also awarded compensation of Rs 5 lakh.
The state appealed against the order in Supreme Court which stayed the exhumation but asked the state to appeal before a larger bench of the high court. The division bench agreed with the state counsel’s agreement that the exhumation was not feasible as the body would start decomposing soon after burial. It also noted that the father of the deceased had given up on the plea for exhumation of the body before the Supreme Court.
Aamir Magrey (23) was among four persons killed in the shootout on November 15 last year. Police had claimed that all four including the businessman-owner of the building and the tenant of the premises where the encounter took place were militants or overground workers. However, protests by families of the slain men and political parties led to the government returning bodies of Altaf Bhat, the building owner, and Mudasir, the tenant, after three days. However, police insisted that Magrey was involved in supporting militancy and did not return his body.