Lt. Kalia of India Army's Jat Regiment would have celebrated his 23rd birthday on June 29.

But on Wednesday, the Pakistan army handed over the bodies of Kalia and five soldiers at Kashmir's Kargil, where the Indian army is fighting to evict what it says are Pakistani guerrillas from the Indian side of a ceasefire line. The six were among the 14 soldiers reported missing by India since early May.

India's Defense Minister George Fernandes said post mortems showed Pakistan had violated ethical norms of a battle by torturing and killing the six soldiers after capturing them. The eyes of some of the soldiers had been gouged out, and their ears, nose and genitals chopped off.

"It has now become clear after the post mortems of Lieutenant Saurav Kalia and his five soldiers that they were tortured and killed in a barbaric manner," Fernandes told reporters. "...There are certain established norms, principles, values which are adhered to but Pakistan did not keep to any such norms," Fernandes said after paying homage to the six soldiers at an army base in Delhi.

Pakistan dismissed the torture allegations as absurd.

This is the second such incident since fighting began in Kargil. Earlier this month, Pakistan had returned the body of MiG-21M pilot squadron leader Ajay Ahuja after shooting him in cold blood.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said the post mortems were conducted at a military base hospital in the presence of an observer from the Indian Red Cross and a local forensic expert. Copies of the post mortem reports were not distributed.

When asked why Pakistan would return bodies after mutilating them, Singh said the question should be put to the Pakistani side.

He said the post mortem had revealed the deaths were about a week old. Fernandes laid a wreath of white gladiolis on each of the coffins wrapped in India's national flag. Fourteen soldiers of the Rajputana Rifles lowered their guns as buglers played the "Last Post." Hundreds of soldiers and officers saluted the dead during a minute's silence. Fernandes said India would take up the issue of the soldiers' deaths with

Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz, who is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Saturday for talks.