Kashmiri Blast Victim's Family Receives Severed Body Parts For Last Rites

Hours after the family of fourty-six-year-old forensic expert, Mohammad Amin Mir, learnt about his death in the blast that occurred at Nowgam police station after the explosive that was seized as part of the Delhi blast case went off, they had a hard time identifying the body. The mortal remains were reduced to severed body parts, and they could recognise it from his false teeth and fatty lump on his neck.

The body remained shrouded in white cloth before it was laid to rest in the neighbourhood graveyard. The family was shell-shocked over the manner in which they had to perform the last rites. Amin is survived by his wife and two boys, aged 15 and 10.

His brother, Mohammad Sikander Mir, 42, who runs a photography shop in Bemina, says that they learnt about his death only in the morning at around 8.30 am when the FSL officials came to their house. They were informed that he had been wounded before the family realised that Mir was dead.

"We called Amin and he informed us that he was busy and would come back home late at night. He had a routine of working during night hours, so we weren't worried. It was only after we were informed by the FSL team that we learned about the death. The informed us that my brother has been wounded as they wanted to avoid shocking us,” says Sikandar.

According to the family, Amin was employed as an operator in 2007 and married a year later. He was earlier working as a CCTV operator at Srinagar airport before being posted as an FSL expert at District Police Lines (DPL) Srinagar.

"The mortal remains were sealed in a shroud by the police only, and it was a semblance of a body that we received for last rites,” adds Sikandar.

Nine people were killed while at least 30 others were injured after the explosive substance that was seized as part of the Delhi blast case detonated at the police station. Police have described the incident as accidental in nature, saying that the forensic examination of the cache seized from Faridabad in Haryana had been going on for two days before the blast.

Earlier, on the day of the Delhi blast, police claimed to have recovered 2,900 kg of IED-making material following the arrest of seven people allegedly involved in issuing threats to security force personnel. A was registered under several sections of the UAPA Act, BNS, Explosive Substance Act, and Arms Act at the Police Station Nowgam on October 19. The seized material included  “chemicals, reagents, inflammable material, electronic circuits, batteries, wires, remote control, timers, and metal sheets".

A local tailor of Nowgam, Mohammad Shafi Parray, who was called by the police to sew the bags to store the explosive substance, and the numberdar of the Natipora area of Srinagar, Suhail Ahmad Rather,  who had to prepare a seizure  report, were among those who were killed. Suhail’s uncle,  Showkat Ahmad Rather, says that they buried the body at around 4 pm at the local graveyard, after he was identified by the family members hours after his death. “ The family called him and he informed them that he would come within one hour before we got to know that he was among those who died in the blast,” says Showkat.