LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday allowed pre-arrest bail to two police officials while denying it to two others facing charges of killing a young man in a fake encounter, alleging he was a suspect in seven-year-old Emaan Fatima’s rape and murder case of Kasur.

The suspects given the relief of bail before arrest are former district police officer of Kasur, Nasir Abbas Rizvi and constable Amanat, while bail petitions of Deputy Superintendent of police (DSP) Arif Rashid and sub-inspector Younas Dogar had been dismissed by the court.

During the hearing, Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad told the court that the suspects had arrested Mudassar, the victim, from his house and later killed him in a fake encounter. He said the suspects also forced the mother of the victim to ‘reconcile’ with them against payment of a hefty amount.

Two policemen denied relief

He said a local sessions court of Kasur had granted bail to the suspects, ignoring facts of the case. He said a joint investigation team found Rashid, Dogar and three other policemen guilty of killing Mudassar in a fake encounter, terming him a suspect in Fatima’s case. However, he said the JIT was yet to complete its investigation to the extent of former DPO Rizvi and constable Amanat.

The prosecutor reiterated that the DNA report had confirmed that Imran Ali, convict in Zainab’s rape-cum-murder case, was also involved in the murder of Fatima. He said the Supreme Court had also taken suo motu notice of the extra-judicial killing of Mudassar.

The lawyers of the suspects had taken a plea that Mudassar and two others were riding a stolen motorbike when police personnel signaled them to stop at a police picket. However, the bike riders had not stopped and rode away. They said the policemen chased them and the trio on the bike opened fire at the police team. The personnel had no option but to retaliate the fire in self-defence, resulting in the death of Mudassar, the lawyers stated.

After the arguments, Justice Anwarul Haq allowed bail to former DPO and the constable while denied the relief to DSP Rashid and sub-inspector Dogar.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2018