KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday convicted four police officers for conducting defective investigation into a staged encounter, in which a man was killed, and framing another man in a false case.

The SHC observed that all the facts and evidence indicated that the deceased and the man arrested by the police were framed in false cases and they had no criminal record.

The bench comprising Justice Nazar Akbar and Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan further said it cannot be ruled out that it was a cold-blooded killing from a point-blank range at a time when there was no information about any criminal record of the deceased.

All the factors clearly indicated that at the time of an alleged encounter, the deceased was not committing any robbery, but riding a motorcycle owned by his brother, it added.

The bench handed down six-month imprisonment to the investigating officers — sub-inspectors Shabbir Gopang and Bagh Ali, ASI Najaf Ali and head constable Rana Tariq — and also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 each and in case of non-payment they will have to spend additional six months in prison.

The police officers were taken into custody and sent to prison to serve out the sentence.

The prosecution claimed that the police had intercepted two ‘robbers’ and during an encounter Syed Owais Hussain Jaffery was killed and his ‘accomplice’ Arshad was arrested in August 2018 in North Nazimabad and three cases were registered against them.

Last year, an antiterrorism court had convicted Arshad and he filed an appeal before the SHC.

Last week, the bench had allowed the appeal and directed the jail authorities to release Arshad if not wanted in any other criminal case and also decided to proceed against the police officers and issued notices to them with the direction to file their replies within seven days.

On Tuesday, the police officers submitted their replies. However, the bench observed that they remained unable to give any satisfactory explanation and that there was no inquiry regarding the motorcycle which was now admitted by the police officials to have been owned by the brother of the deceased.

“All the above facts and evidence on record indicate that there has not only a false case against the two accused in the FIRs, even otherwise no inquiry/investigation was properly conducted to finally get the conviction on merit,” it added.

Relief cards for senior citizens

Another divisional bench of the SHC on Tuesday directed the Senior Citizens Council to convene its meeting within 10 days and chalk out a roadmap to issue Azadi cards on an early date.

The bench comprising Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Arshad Hussain Khan also sought a progress report by Jan 18 after it was informed that the draft of rules under the Sindh Senior Citizens Welfare Act, 2014 has been prepared and it will be placed before the council for approval and then further approval will be accorded by the provincial cabinet.

Secretary of the social welfare department Dr Nawaz Shaikh contended that Rs30 million has been approved in the budget for this financial year for Azadi cards and sought time by submitting that a Senior Citizen Council meeting will be convened and it will decide the timeline for issuing such cards for senior citizens.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2020