Bodies to be handed over to families after following due process of law: IGP Kashmir
Jahangeer Ganai
Srinagar: In a significant development, the J&K police Wednesday said that the bodies of slain trio from Rajouri who were killed in Amshipora, Shopian in a “stage managed encounter” on July 18 this year, will be exhumed and handed over their families after following legal procedure while as Rajouri administration has called the families of slain trio for consultations tomorrow.
“Since DNA samples (of slain trio) matched with their families, three bodies will be exhumed and handed over to families after due process of law,” Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range), Vijay Kumar told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO)
The development comes just a day after DGP Dilbagh Singh said that police probe into the Amshipora encounter was in a final stage. There has been an immense pressure from the families of slain trio that the bodies of their loved be exhumed and handed over to them since DNA samples have matched and the investigations by police and army have already proved that their son were killed in a “fake encounter.”
“We have been called by the Rajouri administration for consultations. We demand immediate exhumation of bodies of our sons, compensation and punishment to those involved in fake encounter,” said Muhammad Yousuf, father of one of the youth killed in Amshipora gunfight.
The Army had ordered a Court of Inquiry into the encounter last month after the three families came forward to say the youths were cousins — one of them was reportedly 16 years old — who had gone to Kashmir for work and not been in touch since July 17 night.
On September 18, the army said that “the Dos and Don’ts of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) as approved by the Hon’ble Supreme Court have been contravened” in the course of the operation.
The Army did not elaborate on exactly how the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was exceeded and the guidelines were contravened, but said that disciplinary proceedings under the Army Act will be initiated against those found prima facie answerable.
“The inquiry has prima facie indicated that the three unidentified terrorists killed in Op Amshipora were Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohd Ibrar, who hailed from Rajouri,” the statement had read—(KNO)
