Priyanka Singh
Published on: September 19, 2022 at 21:08 IST
Today, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea seeking the investigation of Advocate Tika Lal Taploo’s murder that took place in 1989 in the Kashmir Valley by militants.
The plea also sought the relocation of family members and the restoration of their properties in the Kashmir Valley, along with the investigation of the murder of other people as well.
The writ was filed by the son of Late Advocate Tika Lal Taploo, Ashutosh Taploo.
The bench of Justices B. R Gavai and CT Ravikumar refused to hear the petition on the ground that similar pleas were not entertained as well by the Court in the near past, hence, to not discriminate, they shall not interfere.
The bench, therefore, gave Taploo the liberty to seek alternate measures and dismissed the petition as withdrawn.
Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia, Taploo’s counsel, prayed that the petitioner was aggrieved personally, unlike the other cases which were filed under public interest.
The petition read that, “It is shocking that the petitioner and his family members are treated as ‘migrants’ in their own country when the petitioner and his family has not left the valley by choice but by force due to militancy in the region where the slogans by Militants and Islamic fundamentalism for Kashmiri Pandits were ‘Convert, leave or die’.”
The petitioner also highlighted that the SIT formed in several cases was also formed in the investigation of Sikh Riots of 1984 as well as the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and must be granted formation in the persecution of Kashmiri Pandits as well.
He stated that they do not know about the whereabouts of their ancestral home and property and cannot go back due to fear.
The bench still denying, directed the petitioner to seek relief in the High Court, stating their faith in the HC and dismissed the case as witdrawn.