KARACHI: Four police officials on Friday escaped from a court in Malir after it turned down their pre-arrest bail application in a case pertaining to the murder of a teenager allegedly in a ‘fake’ encounter.

The four police officials just walked away without facing any hindrance at all after additional district and sessions judge Sadaf Asif dismissed their application.

Ismail Lashari, the then Sachal station house officer, assistant sub-inspectors Mukhtiar Mangi and Khalid Bhatti and constable Shabbir Khoso, who dubbed 17-year-old Anisur Rehman Soomro a Taliban militant, were booked for killing him allegedly in a ‘fake’ encounter in June last year.

The suspects through their counsel had moved the pre-arrest bail application. At a previous hearing, they were granted interim bail and asked to appear in court for confirmation of the bail or otherwise.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the additional district and sessions judge dismissed the application on Friday. As soon as the court turned down the plea, the police officials walked away from the court premises without meeting any hindrance.

Earlier, a case had been registered against the police officers on a compliant of the teenager’s father, Anwar Soomro, on a directive of the Sindh High Court. The SHO challenged the SHC ruling in the Supreme Court which threw out the appeal on Feb 27.

On a request of the complainant, the apex court also ordered district and sessions judge (south) Ahmed Saba to hold an inquiry into the allegation that Malir SSP Rao Anwar had pressured him to withdraw the case and sought a report within a month.

The apex court warned the SSP that he would be held responsible if any harm came to the complainant or his family.

According to the complainant, Anis was a Class X student who was arrested along with his two friends by the Sachal Goth police near Safoora Goth in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on June12, 2014. SHO Lashari demanded Rs500,000 for his son’s release and later killed him in a ‘fake’ encounter, because he was unable to pay the bribe, the complainant added.

He maintained that the slain student had been detained for 10 days at the Sachal police station before he was taken to a nearby Afghan refugee camp where he was killed on June 22, 2014.

The complainant said his son had never remained associated with any militant group though the police had initially claimed to have killed four Taliban militants including Anisur Rehman Soomro.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play