PESHAWAR, July 31: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday sentenced to death an accused for killing a station house officer (SHO), Bukhtiar Alam, and awarded life imprisonment to two other accused.
The court, presided over by Akhter Zareef Khan, pronounced that the prosecution had proved its case and the confessional statement of the accused, Mah Gul, proved the involvement of the accused in the commission of the offence.
Bukhtiar Alam, who was SHO of Bhadabher police station, was on patrol with a police party on March 26 when assailants ambushed his vehicle. Later, the police arrested Mah Gul, Yousaf and Shoaib Afridi, claiming that they were involved in the murder.
The trial court sentenced Mah Gul to death, whereas Yousaf and Shoaib were sentenced to life imprisonment.
One of the accused, Tasleem, was killed in an encounter. His family claimed that he was a donkey-cart owner and was driving the cart when he was killed by the police with his donkey.
A writ petition against the police department has been pending before the high court in that regard.
Shoaib Afridi is stated to be 17 years old. His father, Akber Hussain, claimed that at the time of the occurrence he was present at his shop in Bara, Khyber Agency. Moreover, his relatives claimed that under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance the ATC had no jurisdiction to conduct trial of a juvenile. The trial of a juvenile could also not be conducted jointly with other accused, they claimed.
The court examined 18 prosecution and four defence witnesses.
Public Prosecutor Sher Mohammad Khan appeared for the state, advocates Qazi Mohammad Anwer and Syed Sardar Shah appeared for the complainant, whereas Asadullah Chamkani, Mian Abdul Fayyaz and Kifayat Khan represented the defence.
The court also sentenced the three accused to five years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs10,000 on account of firing at the police party. The court also fined them Rs500,000 each as compensation for the family of the deceased
The three accused claimed that they were innocent and falsely implicated in the case. Mah Gul told newsmen that he was tortured and forced to confess a crime which he had not committed.