Closure order in Tufail Mattoo killing case challenged

Srinagar, April 09, 2013 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the High Court has sought the records in the Tufail Mattoo killing case from the lower court which recently accepted the police closure into the matter and closed the proceedings of the case as ‘untraced’.

The directions were issued by a single bench of the high court comprising Janak Raj Kotwal in a petition by the family of the deceased teenager, seeking to set aside the orders of the Special Mobile Magistrate, Srinagar, issued on February 27, 2013.

The killing of Tufail Mattoo in 2010 had triggered a cycle of protests in the Valley. More than 120 persons were killed in firing by the police and paramilitary forces in 2010.

Tufail was killed on June 11, 2010, while he was returning home from tuition. A teargas shell fired by the police had hit him while he was walking near a college in Srinagar. He died instantly.

While challenging the closure orders of the trial court, the petitioner family have submitted to the high court that after adjourning the matter and fixing the next date of hearing on March 1, 2013, it was not open to the trial court to pass the closure orders dated February 27, 2013.

After going through the petition and hearing the submissions, Justice Kotwal directed that the record from the trail court be sought and the matter be listed along with the main petition next week.

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Kashmir Media Service
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