KARACHI, Sept 24: The additional district and sessions judge-II, Central, Nilofer Shahnawaz Azimi, on Monday again issued non-bailable arrest warrants against eight police officials who have not been appearing in court for the past five years to testify as prosecution witnesses in a road accident that had claimed lives of two girls and left several others injured in the limits of the Sharifabad police station on Feb 19, 2002.

The court had also issued arrest warrants for the police officials, but they did not turn up and the judge fixed Oct 3 as the next date for the trial. According to the prosecution, an over-speeding bus of route 5-C bearing registration No JA 5983 had crushed to death two intermediate students, Nida Afzaal and Ravia Beenish, of the APWA College, Karimabad while those who had been injured included Naheed Rehman, Gauhar Aftab, Shahida, Arsha, Madeeha, Sabeeha and Nargis.

The driver, Mohammad Munawar, and the owner of the vehicle, Mohammad Ibrahim, had been arrested and a case (FIR No 054/2002) had been registered against them at the Sharifabad police station under Sections 320, 322 and 337 of the PPC. They were later released on bail.

The police officials, stated to be prosecution witnesses and not appearing in court, include the investigation officer, Inspector Suhail Ahmed, ASI Mir Mohammad (traffic section), ASI Irfan, ASI Ghulam Hussain, SI Zafar Iqbal, Motor Vehicle Inspector Mohammad Jamil and Constable Zahoor (traffic section).

Judges have lodged as many as 25 complaints with the high-ups of the police department to ensure the appearance of witnesses in the case, but to no avail. Efforts had also been made to get the version of the police officials but they could not be contacted over the telephone.