SC for autopsy of Srinagar youth under judge supervision

New Delhi, Aug 12: The Supreme Court today ordered that exhumation and autopsy of the body of a 26-year-old man, who was killed allegedly by police at Tengpora in Batamaloo area of Srinagar on July 10, would be carried out under the supervision of the District and Sessions Judge.

Abdul Rehman Mir had alleged that his son Shabir Ahmad Mir was killed by police at his home on July 10 while the Jammu and Kashmir Police had claimed that he died during protests in the Valley.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi assured the court that the probe would have the highest level of transparency and that the authorities would leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the case.

The bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy said that the District and Sessions Judge of Srinagar would be at liberty to have the assistance of officers of his choice for the impartial exercise of carrying out the exhumation and autopsy.

It said that all steps would be taken in accordance with the law and ordere that the entire exercise be completed within three weeks before posting the matter for further hearing on September 5.

The bench observed that it is a serious matter and such a situation should be handled with humane approach and extreme sensitivity.

The court passed the order after perusing the report submitted by the state police on the circumstances leading to the killing of Shabir Ahmad Mir.

The report, which was filed in a sealed cover, also contained the order of the District Magistrate who had directed exhumation and autopsy of the body of the victim.

The Attorney General requested the bench that the matter be taken up after the postmortem report comes out and also that the father of the victim should join the investigation.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the victim's father, said that the detailed FIR was lodged within 20 minutes of the incident which is an unlikely thing to happen.

He said that the autopsy will determine whether the victim was killed as a result of pellet firing or the gun shot.

PTI