Hyderpora encounter: Youth’s dad rejects ‘see-the-face’ offer

Express News Service

SRINAGAR:  The family of Amir Magray, one of the four persons killed in the controversial Hyderpora encounter on November 15, has rejected the J&K Police’s offer of showing them the face of the slain youth buried in a grave in Handwara in north Kashmir without handing the body over to them, saying “nothing short of handing over the mortal remains is acceptable”.

Abdul Lateef Magray, father of Amir, told this newspaper that he was informed by the police superintendent of Ramban on Saturday that the family would be taken to Handwara, where they would be shown the face of his 22-year-old son. “However, we were told that Amir’s mortal remains will not be handed over to us for burial at his native place in Ramban,” he said. 

Lateef said they rejected the police offer and gave them in writing that “we won’t accept anything short of handing over mortal remains of Amir to the family for proper burial”. According to police, four persons including a Pakistani militant Haider, his associate Amir of Ramban, OGW Dr Mudasir and Altaf Ahmed (both businessmen) were killed in the November 15 encounter at Hyderpora in Srinagar. 

Police had on Tuesday evening quietly buried bodies of the four in a graveyard in Handwara. However, families of Amir, Mudasir and Altaf contested the police claim and alleged it was a “staged encounter” and their relatives were innocent and not connected to militancy. After the public outcry, authorities exhumed bodies of Mudasir and Altaf on Thursday and handed them over to their families for burial at their native places in Srinagar. 

Rejecting the claim of police that his son was a militant, Lateef said Amir was working as an office boy in the office of Dr Mudasir and “CCTVs are installed in the office and police can easily verify whether Amir was a militant or not”.The authorities has ordered a magisterial probe into the encounter. J&K Lt Governor Sinha has said whosoever found guilty in the Hyderpora encounter won’t be spared and the government is committed to ensure justice.