The Rajouri-based families, who have laid claim on the trio, including a minor, killed by the army in a “gunfight” on 18 July in Shopian, have written a letter to Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, asking for his intervention in the case.
The families of Abrar Ahmed, Imtiyaz Ahmed, and Abrar Ahmed — the trio who had left Rajouri on 16 July and have been missing from Shopian since 18 July, as per the families — wrote to the LG, demanding “an impartial and fair inquiry in the killings as well DNA reports so that things can be made public”.
On 10 August, The Kashmir Walla reported that the families had identified their missing relatives from a photograph, purportedly of the trio killed by the army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), and had filed a missing complaint with Rajouri police a day before.
Also read: Exclusive | Why delay in DNA test results of three missing youth from Rajouri?
Three days later, after families’ requests, DNA sampling of the families was done by the Shopian police, which was to be matched with the trio killed in Shopian on 18 July. The army had also initiated a probe into the allegations of the family.
The families were promised the results in ten to fifteen days, Rajouri-based activist Guftar Choudhary told The Kashmir Walla. However, nearly a month has passed and the results of the DNA matching haven’t come.
The initial delay was explained to the families, the activist, and the Rajouri police by the Shopian police as “lack of facility” and “technical difficulties” at Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Srinagar. However, this week, an investigation by The Kashmir Walla revealed that FSL Srinagar is well equipped and has already submitted its findings in the case — registered under FIR 42/2020 at police station Hirpora — given by the Shopian police.
Later, the police sent the sampling to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Chandigarh for DNA matching — however, The Kashmir Walla exclusively learnt from a senior official at the Central-government run laboratory that the police had sent a “wrong case”.
“In the forwarding note of the letter, it was written that the profile of the deceased was generated by FSL Srinagar, but it is not a profile, it is just samples,” the senior official said. She added: “It just has tooth and hair samples of the deceased, not the profiles. We don’t have any profile of the deceased. Now we have to generate the profile and it takes time.”
The families also sent a copy of the letter to Chief Secretary J-K, B. V. R. Subrahmanyam, Home Secretary J-K, Director General of Police J-K, Dilbag Singh.
In the letter, the families appealed: “We also want dead bodies of our children so that we can give them a decent burial. We are very much hopeful that your good self will personally intervene in this matter and ensure justice to us.”
Writing by Yashraj Sharma.
