January 06, 2009	Tuesday	Muharram 08, 1430

ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The Supreme Court here on Monday ordered the capital police to register a case against the police officials involved in an ‘encounter’ on the Islamabad Highway near Faizabad in which three persons, including a constable, were injured.

The SC also asked the police to produce medico-legal reports of the two accused, being declared terrorists by the police, before the court.

Taking suo motu action, a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Ijaz-ul-Hassan and Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf took up an appeal of Ms Fakhra Basharat who had requested the apex court to take notice of the incident in which the police allegedly injured the accused who were coming from Gujranwala after attending a Valima ceremony.

SSP Islamabad Ahmed Latif presented a police report to the court, stating that the incident took place on December 28 when driver of a Hi-ace ignored the police signal to stop at the Faizabad checkpost for search of the vehicle and instead opened fire at the police.

In retaliation both the police as well as Rangers deputed at the police picket also returned fire, he said. Later, the injured were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical sciences (PIMS) for treatment. The report also said the accused were involved in some other such cases.

During hearing of the case, the bench inquired about medical examination report of the accused and the medico-legal certificates. In response, the SSP said the medical report was not available but would be presented soon.

Advocate Dr Aslam Khaki, counsel for the accused family, however questioned the police version and told the court that Haji Muhmmad Munir (father) and Abbas Munir (son) were still in the lockup in the injured condition.

The counsel also accused the capital police of distorting facts as, he added, police constable Mohammad Sadiq had only received a minor injury but later deliberately shot his leg from the gun of the accused to make the case against them stronger. The constable was also awarded a prize money of Rs50,000 for arresting the “terrorists”.

The police in their report, he alleged, had also concealed facts as, he added, they did not mention the presence of the bride wearing gold ornaments, now missing, and other women and minors in the vehicle. The police also detained the entire family in the police station for quite some time, he said.

Dr Khaki informed the court that he had submitted an application to the inspector general Islamabad police on Saturday bearing the version of the accused family with a request to register FIR against the police but the SSP refused to receive it.

The CJ however ordered the SSP to register an FIR of the accused in order to have their version about the incident and submit their medical certificates before the court by Tuesday.