PESHAWAR, June 15: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the local police to arrest four policemen, including an SHO, involved in the killing of a boy in a fake encounter.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Malik Hamid Saeed and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi, disposed of a contempt of court petition filed against the local police for not registering an FIR against the four policemen.

An official of the Bana Mari police station appeared before the court and informed it that an FIR had already been registered against the four policemen, SHO Abdul Malik Khan, ASI Shehanshah Khan and constables Khaista Gul and Zahir Shah. However, when the bench inquired from the official if the accused were arrested or not, he stated that they had not been arrested yet. On hearing this the court expressed its annoyance and directed the official to immediately arrest the policemen involved in the killing.

The court had earlier put the chief of Capital City Police, Masood Paracha, on notice on June 9 in the contempt of court petition, following which the FIR was registered.

The high court had accepted a writ petition of Misal Khan, father of the deceased Kashmir Khan, on May 11 and had directed the local police to register an FIR against the policemen.

The court had ordered that they should be booked under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Despite clear directives from the high court the local police were reluctant to register the FIR and left the deceased's father with no other option but to file the petition.