KARACHI, Nov 14: The death of a 23-year-old youth, Asif, on Stadium Road on September 20 night may remain a mystery as the six policemen nominated as accused in the case have been exonerated for ‘lack of evidence’.

Asif, a skilled labourer, died of a bullet wound in the head and his friend, Mohammad Shoaib, suffered a minor bruise from a bullet when the policemen, traveling in one of the two police mobiles escorting Shah Sirajul Haq, had reportedly opened fire at Asif’s car.

Both the police mobiles had sped away following the incident, but returned to the New Town police station the same night when a city-wide search for them was launched through police control.

Shoaib, who was seated beside Asif in the car when the incident occurred, puts up a simple question:

If the shots were not fired from someone in these police mobiles, they why did they speed away although the VIP they had been supposed to escort was not there in the convoy at that time?

“Had not they (police) been suppose to stop when the firing had occurred and caused the car to run over the maiden?” he posed another question.

Pursuing justice is a far cry; even making both ends meet has become a daily struggle for Asif’s family.

Asif had been bearing the major share of economic burden of his family. His father, after his retirement from the police department, earns Rs3,000 per month and serves as a private security guard, to rear two sons, younger than Asif, and a daughter.

Asif was a little boy when he started working as a helper at the workshop of Haji Gulzar Ali in Ranchor Line, Shoaib recalls.

On October 9, 2006, the court of the judicial magistrate, Karachi East, issued an order on FIR No.249/2006, pertaining to the incident in which Asif was killed.

The order reads: “this order will dispose of a police report in case crime No.249/2006 of New Town police station under section 302 and 324, read with section 34, PPC whereby IO Adnan Khan of investigation wing of Sharea Faisal has sought exoneration of accused Mohammad Saeed, James Naz, Ali Hasan, Mairaj Khan, Mushtaq Khan and Mohammad Aslam for lack of evidence.”

The order further held that “the IO states that he could not collect any evidence to connect the present accused with the alleged offence as there is neither any ocular evidence nor the circumstances leading to their involvement.”

The Judicial Magistrate, Allah Bachayo Gabol, stated in his order: “I have gone through the 154, Cr.PC statement of the complainant and 161, Cr.PC statements of prosecution witnesses including that of Iqbal Khan. They do not implicate any of the present accused… However, the IO would continue with the investigation from different angles to unearth the actual culprits by collecting further evidence as far as possible.”

Earlier, on October 3, 2006, the Vth Additional Sessions Judge, Karachi East, disposed of a criminal revision filed by the applicant, Inspector Mohammad Mukhtar.

The judge observed: “Looking to the circumstances, I am of the humble view that since complainant has not given name of any accused mentioned in his 154 Cr.PC statement nor has he claimed that he can identify the accused persons involved in the commission of crime, as such exercise of identification parade would be futile. Therefore, I am of the view that the order dated 27-09-2006 passed by the learned judicial magistrate is reasonable. Consequently, I do not find any merits in this revision application which stands dismissed.”