KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Saturday dismissed bail applications of three policemen in a case pertaining to killing of a teenage schoolboy, who was dubbed militant in an alleged ‘staged’ shoot-out.

The then Sachal SHO Ismail Lashari, Inspector Shaikh Muhammad Shoaib, alias Shoaib Shooter, ASIs Mukhtiar Ali Mangi and Ghulam Shabbir and constable Muhammad Khalid Bhatti have been booked for allegedly killing 17-year-old Anisur Rehman Soomro in a fake encounter and declaring the victim a Taliban militant in June 2014.

When the matter came up before the ATC-II recently, the judge pronounced his judgement on the applications seeking confirmation of pre-arrest bail granted earlier to three undertrial police officials Mukhtiar Ali, Ghulam Shabbir and Khalid Bhatti.

The judge rejected and dismissed their pleas observing that the same lacked merits for confirmation of the pre-arrest bail of the suspects at the present stage of the case.

The judge ordered arrest of the three undertrial policemen and sent them to the central prison directing its superintendent to produce them on the next date of hearing. The matter was fixed for indictment of all the five suspects on Oct 31.

Earlier, special public prosecutor Ali Raza Abbasi opposed the pleas for bail confirmation arguing that the applicants themselves were police officials, who allegedly got involved in the heinous offence like killing a teenager and falsely showing him a Taliban militant.

In the bail pleas, defence counsel Abdul Ali Alana argued that the applicants would not abscond from the court if their interim bail was confirmed and pleaded to confirm their interim bail.

Two former inspectors Lashari and Shoaib Shooter, who are also nominated in the case pertaining to the killing of an aspiring Waziristan model, Naseebullah Mehsud, in an alleged similar staged encounter, have already been declared proclaimed offenders in the present case since they absconded after obtaining pre-arrest bail.

According to the prosecution, victim Anisur Rehman was a Class-X student when he was arrested with his two friends by the Sachal Goth police near Safoora Goth in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on June12, 2014. SHO Lashari allegedly demanded Rs500,000 for the safe release of the captive and later killed him in a fake encounter since the complainant was unable to pay the bribe, it added.

It further maintained that the slain student had been detained for 10 days at the Sachal police station before he was taken to a nearby Afghan refugee camp, where he was killed on June 22, 2014 and initially the police claimed to have killed four Taliban militants, including the victim.

On the directive of Sindh High Court, a case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against the police officers on the complaint of the father of the deceased at the Sachal police station. Later, Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 was incorporated in the FIR.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2019