The high court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has taken suo motu cognisance of a case involving a local family’s plea to recover the body of their son, who reportedly drowned in the Chenab in Jammu and washed up in Pakistan.

Acting Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Rajnesh Oswal have issued notices to the home and external affairs ministries, along with the Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor’s administration, this week to help retrieve the body.

Jammu youth Harsh Nagotra is suspected to have committed suicide on June 11 by jumping into the river and his body was swept away to Pakistan.

The high court order said his family contends that their son drowned in the Chenab under mysterious circumstances and his body was found in the neighbouring nation, thus requiring it “to be returned from Pakistan for the last rites”.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Indu Bhushan Bali which urged the court to treat the matter as a PIL under Articles 226 and 227 of
the Constitution.

The petition sought directions to protect the fundamental rights of the parents of Nagotra, who was in his 20s, so they can perform the last rites of their son.

The court dismissed the plea for a PIL, saying it was not maintainable as the parents, Subash Chander and Santosh Kumari, were present in person and their grievances about the early retrieval of the body were heard.

“However, we take suo motu cognisance of the incident,” the order stated.

It said deputy solicitor-general Vishal Sharma was present in the court and has accepted notice on behalf of the home and external affairs ministries.

“He seeks and is granted one-week time to have instructions,” the court said.

The family lives in Jammu’s Akhnoor, which like several other areas in the region, has witnessed a spate of militant attacks since June 9, leaving 11 security personnel and nine civilians dead.

Thousands of soldiers are patrolling the forests to look for the militants who remain at large.

The youth’s father recently told reporters that he had no clue about his missing son for days until they applied for a duplicate SIM.

He said the SIM had several messages from Pakistan revealing his body had been found. “We spoke to them. They said his body was found on June 13 and it was lying in a hospital for two days. On June 15, they buried him,” he said, requesting the country’s top brass to help retrieve the body for the last rites here.