KARACHI: Two policemen were on Tuesday arrested in connection with the killing of a young woman who got caught in the crossfire between law enforcers and bandits in New Karachi on Monday, officials said.

They said that two muggers were looting passers-by in Sanata Patti in New Karachi when a police patrol was informed about their presence by one of the robbery victims. As the police challenged them, the muggers resorted to firing.

In an exchange of gunfire, a passer-by, identified as 23-year-old Hameeda Rafiq, suffered a bullet wound and died. One suspect was arrested in a wounded condition.

While the police claimed that the woman was killed by robbers, her husband, Muhammad Rafiq, told the media that his wife was hit by a bullet fired by the police.

He said that they were returning home on a motorbike after getting treatment of their child. The robbers were fleeing when the policemen opened fire on them, and a bullet hit his wife, which proved fatal.

A police spokesperson in a statement on Tuesday said that two policemen — Rohan Saeed and Ali Raza — were booked and arrested in a case registered on the complaint of the victim’s husband under Section 319 (manslaughter) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The complainant said that his wife was hit in the back and fell from the motorbike. She was initially taken to a nearby hospital, which referred her to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital from where she was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors declared her dead.

The police also registered two cases against the held suspect on charges of robbery, encounter with police and possessing an unlicensed pistol.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023