SRINAGAR: The letter written on behalf of Afzal Guru’s family seeking his body is not being considered seriously by the Tihar jail authorities as they have not taken it as a formal request.
Guru’s family on Tuesday sent a second letter to the Tihar director general, asking them to keep his belongings in a safe place and to make arrangements for taking his body back to Kashmir for burial.
However, Tihar authorities are not treating the letter, written by Guru’s lawyers ND Pancholi and Nandita Haksar on behalf of Guru’s wife Tabassum, as representative of the family’s wishes.
“We have not received any request from his wife Tabassum,” Sunil Gupta, Tihar law officer and spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
As per jail rules, Tihar officials will only consider a ‘proper request’ from the family only if Afzal’s wife sends a letter signed by her, along with a ‘probate form’ attached to prove her relationship to Afzal, the officials told the newspaper.
“The family can approach us anytime as per jail rules through proper channels,” Gupta said.
