ISLAMABAD: A two-member division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi registry on Monday issued notices to the state and the complainant in the Benazir Bhutto murder case on appeals filed by two convicted senior police officers.

The bench, comprising Justice Tariq Abbasi and Justice Habibullah Amir, heard the appeals filed by retired additional inspector general Saud Aziz and senior superintendent of police Khurram Shehzad.

ATC Judge Asghar Ali Khan on August 31 awarded the two police officers 17 years imprisonment besides fining them Rs1 million each.

The judge acquitted five suspects of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for want of evidence. The two police officers were convicted for criminal negligence under section 119 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and destroying the evidence under 201 of the PPC.

Mr Aziz was facing charges of removing an officer deployed for the ‘box security’ of the slain leader at Liaquat Bagh and sending him to Sadiqabad where a rally of the PML-N had come under an attack on December 27, 2007.

He was also accused of not conducting a postmortem on the body of Ms Bhutto.

Mr Shehzad was convicted for washing the crime scene within a couple of hours of the suicide attack on the slain PPP leader which destroyed the evidence that could have led to the real culprits.

In the appeals, the convicted officers, who are currently detained at the Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, challenged the sentence on three grounds.

Mr Aziz filed the appeal through Azam Nazir Tarrar while Mr Shehzad’s appeal was submitted by Ghanim Aabir advocate.

They claimed that there was no evidence of active participation of the convicts in the terrorist attack. The prosecution could not prove any mens rea “the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime, as opposed to the action or conduct of the accused” against the police officers.

The appellant said section 119 of the PPC cannot be invoked against them on the basis of evidence the prosecution had brought to the court record.

After hearing the preliminary arguments, the bench issued notices to the complainant, Kashif Riaz, who was the station house officer of the City police station when Ms Bhutto was assassinated.

The court also issued notice to the Federal Investigation Agency, the prosecution agency in the murder case.

The bench sought replies from the respondents and adjourned the hearing till a date to be fixed by the registrar office.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2017