GUWAHATI, Dec 22? The Gauhati High Court today issued a notice on the petition filed by the Manab Adhikar Sangram Samitee (MASS) and directed the petition to come up for further orders on January 2. The petition has been filed for an order from the High Court regarding the handing over of the dead bodies of combatant and non-combatant members of the underground ULFA whose camps have been under attack in Bhutan. The Division Bench of Justice D Biswas and Justice IA Ansari further directed the Army authorities to hand over the body of Bhimkanta Buragohain, the octogenerean founder-member of the militant outfit, to the nearest police station if it is in the Army?s possession. This is to facilitate his family members to perform the last rites.
Appearing for the petitioner, it was argued by B Mahajan that similar directions should be issued by the High Court in respect of other dead persons, though they are not named in the petition. The submission was made on purely humanitarian grounds on behalf of the anxious family members who wish to perform the last rites of their dead kin. Objections were raised by S Bhattacharjee, the advocate representing the Central Government, about the maintainability of such a prayer when dead persons were not named in the petition.
The Gauhati High Court, thereafter, made the wishes of the court known through the Central Government lawyer that dead bodies of other non-combatant and combatant members who have died in the recent operations in Bhutan and whose bodies may have been handed over to the Indian Army could also be made over to the nearest police station to enable the family members to perform the last rites of the deceased.
The petition filed by MASS is now posted for further orders on January 2 to enable the Central and State Governments to respond to the charges made in the petition.