GUJRANWALA, Oct 1 The Anti-Terrorism Court No 1 judge adjourned on Friday the hearing of a bail plea by eight Sialkot police officials facing trial of lynching of two Sialkot brothers till Oct 4.
The bail plea by former Sialkot Sadr SHO Rana Ilyas and seven other officials was delayed on the request of the prosecution.
Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed heard that special prosecutor Rana Bakhtiar Ali could not appear in the court because of his engagements. Petitioners' councils Khwaja Awais Mushtaq and Zaighamullah Sansi criticised the special prosecutor for not attending the court.
They said the complainant of the case, Zaraz Ahmed Butt who is uncle of the deceased boys, should also be summoned to the court.
The tragedy grabbed the media and court's attention when a private TV channel streamed lynching of the two brothers at the hands of villagers in the presence of policemen. The mob killed them suspecting them robbers and murderers of the two villagers.
Also, the joint investigation team has completed challan against the accused of the lynching case, Dawn has learnt.
The report consists of 150 pages with 35 photographs of the mobsters hitting Mughees Butt and Muneeb Butt in village Buttar on Aug 15 with clubs. The report also contains the testimony of 34 witnesses.
The document is being scrutinised by special prosecutors Khawaja Sultan, Ehtasham Qaiser and Rana Bakhtiar who would submit it in the court on Oct 5.
SIALKOT Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal has released five police officials, also accused in the lynching case, on bail on Friday.
Sub-Inspector Shehnshah Bukhari, Sarfraz, Nawaz, Yasir and Rizwan facing negligence charges in the investigation of the lynching case. Also, the family of Mughees Butt and Muneeb Butt has shown dissatisfaction at the inquiry report presented before the Supreme Court by the joint investigating team which reportedly declared both brothers the killers of two villagers.
Zarar Butt, the uncle of the lynched brothers, alleged that the police were maneuvering the case to save their colleagues nominated in the case.
He urged Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to get the case reinvestigated.
