HC stays cremation of woman Maoist killed in 'encounter'

The Kerala High Court today restrained the authorities till December 13 from cremating the body of a woman Maoist killed, along with another ultra, in an alleged encounter with police in Nilambur forests in the state last month.
The court issued the interim order on a petition by Bhagat Singh, an advocate from Tamil Nadu, who claimed to be a friend of the slain Maoist Ajitha and sought a direction to the police to hand over her body to him.
Ajitha and Kuppu Devaraj, a leader of the outlawed Maoist outfit, were killed in the 'encounter' during a combing operation by the police on November 24.

In his petition, Singh claimed he was a classmate of Ajitha.
Restraining the authorities from cremating the body of Ajitha till December 13, the court also directed the police to verify the relationship between the petitioner and the woman Maoist and adjourned the matter to that date.
The body of Ajitha is now kept in the mortuary of Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kozhikode.
The high court on December 7 had dismissed a petition by the brother of Devraj seeking a re-postmortem on the body.