The relatives of the slain Amir Ahmad Magray, who was killed in an alleged gunfight of Hyderpora on Monday last week, have been offered to have a last glimpse of their kin without handing over the body to the family for the proper burial.
Talking with The Kashmir Walla, Amir’s father Muhammad Lateef Magray said that the Superintendent of Police [SP] Ramban approached them on Friday night that there is a possibility that the body of Amir might be handed over to the family.
On Friday morning, after authorities handed over the bodies of two civilians to the families of Srinagar for the proper burial, Amir’s family had also written to the district administration Ramban for the mortal remains of their son as well.
Magray said that on Saturday morning the authorities came with two vehicles to their house, and told the family to get ready for a visit to the burial site of Amir in Handwara area of north Kashmir.
“They [authorities] told us that though the body will not be handed over, it will be exhumed so that family can have the last glimpse of the body before being buried in the same grave,” said Magray.
He added that the “family out-rightly rejected the offer”, and requested the authorities to hand over the body for the last rites.
“We told them [authorities] that there is no point of just having the last glimpse of my son, when we couldn’t take him home,” Magray said. “So, we declined their offer to travel to [Handwara] to only see the body without performing his last rites.”
Magray said after listening to the families demand, “the authorities left without saying anything”.
Amir’s family met District Magistrate (DM) Ramban Mussarat Islam on Friday and submitted a written request for the return of Amir’s body.
In a letter dated 19 November 2021 reads, a copy of which is in the possession of The Kashmir Walla, with a subject line – request of handing over of body of late Amir Lateef who was killed in Hyderpora encounter on 17-11-20121 – has requested the concerned authorities to handover Amir’s body, “in the interest of justice.”
“The applicant want dead body of his son and want to bury him in his ancestral graveyard as per Muslim obligation,” the letter signed by Amir’s father, Muhammad Lateef Magray, reads.
A resident of Barzulla, Muhammad Altaf Bhat, a businessman and resident of Budgam, Mudasir Gul, who also ran an office in the same building, where the alleged gunfight took place on Monday, were shot dead along with Amir Ahmad Magray, a resident of Ramban and employee of Gul. The police claimed that the trio were killed along with a foreign militant Haidar.
Twenty-two-year-old Amir was accused of being a militant associate. However, the families of all the three slain civilians have rejected the police version that their kin were involved in the militancy.
The families of Bhat and Gul held a protest on Wednesday last week at the press colony in Lal chowk demanding the bodies of their loved ones.
The bodies of Muhammad Altaf Bhat and Mudasir Gul were returned to the families around 1 am on Fraiday amid forces presence, before they were buried by the family at their ancestral graveyard.
Margay, a resident of Gool Tehsil in Ramban, said that the family would wait for the return of Amir’s body and wouldn’t agree on, “only having a last glimpse of his body.”
“Digging my son’s grave and then again burying him at the same spot would only desecrate the body. If he will be exhumed, then authorities should hand over the body to the family,” he said.
Magray said that the family is hopeful that the government would listen to their pleas and return the body of their son.
“We have a hope on LG sahib, that he will listen to our cry and show the magnanimity to handover the body to the family,” he said.
This story first appeared on thekashmirwalla.com