PESHAWAR, June 24: Additional District and Sessions Judge Shehbar Khan on Thursday granted interim pre-arrest bail to four police officers, including an SHO, involved in the killing of a boy in a fake police encounter.

The court fixed July 8 for confirmation of the bail and directed that the applicants should not be arrested till that date. An FIR was registered against SHO Abdul Malik Khan, ASI Shehanshah Khan and two constables, Zar Wali and Zahir Shah, on the order of the Peshawar High Court. The court on May 11, 2003, accepted a writ petition filed by Misal Khan, father of the deceased boy, Kashmir Khan.

The high court had directed police to arrest the officials who were serving at Bana Mari police station at the time of the reported killing of the boy on May 15, 2002. The petitioner had stated that the police had killed his son and given it an impression of an encounter.

While the police claimed that the boy was a known anti-social element, Qaseem Wardak, but their claim proved wrong later on. Two days after the incident, the boy's father said at a press conference that the killed person was not Qasim Wardak, but his son Kashmir Khan, a student of ninth class.

After the incident a judicial inquiry was conducted which proved that the police had staged a fake encounter.