The men were released on bail against furnishing surety bonds worth Rs200,000.
Petitioners including SHO Rana Ilyas, ASI Muhammad Waris, constables Muhammad Akram, Mubarik Ali, Tariq Khan, Naseer Bhatti, and Bashir Ahmed said in their applications that in light of a Supreme Court decision a convict granted less than five years punishment could be released on bail.
Their counsel argued before the court that they were not present at the site and the complainant had implicated them in the case with mala fide intentions.
SHO Ilyas had filed a separate petition, while the other officers had filed a combined petition.
In their petitions, the officers said that co-accused former DPO Waqar Chohan had already been released on bail. They claimed that when they reached the site, a body was hanging next to a water tank.
The petitioners said that they were not given bail during the proceedings of the trial and should therefore be entitled to get their sentence suspended.
IIlyas said the judge sentenced him only after hearing the prosecution witnesses, 17 of whom did not mention his name while recording their statements. He said another prosecution witness Fiaz Ahmed had confirmed that the SHO reached the spot after the incident took place.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry accepted the petitions and suspended their sentence.
Earlier, the LHC had ordered to release former Sialkot DPO Waqar Chohan on bail after suspending his conviction. Last month, the Gujranwala Anti-Terrorism Court had given the seven police officers three-year sentences in the case of two brothers being lynched to death in Sialkot in August last year.
The family of the deceased and the Punjab government have also separately filed appeals in the LHC challenging the acquittal of five suspects and seeking conversion of life sentences for six into death sentences.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2011.
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@rational thinker: My dear, eventually they will be reinstated and their salaries, if not being paid now, will be returned to them. This is the justice system of Pakistan.
@ SA, I am not making up stories. I know many people in that area and also every common man knows that courts hands are tied when victims family give clean chit to criminals. First they absolved DPO from any wrong doing (you can read it in court's judgement ragarding DPO). Can anyone say that DPO had no role in that incident? If DPO is not guilty, then all police officers under his command are not guilty and with same logic mob is also not guilty. Who started this chain reaction of exonerating criminals? Blaming courts is stupid.
Next in line is Qadri, whose death sentence would be reduced to life imprisonment or less.
One news item in ET says that 75% of criminal cases are dismissed due to poor prosecution. This case too is part of that 75%. In this case they have all the evidence to convict but the judges are partial, just like Moulvi Mushtaq and his peers who convicted ZAB on tainted evidence as an abettor when he was miles away from the crime scene. Lahore High Court should be disbanded as their history is full of partial judges and bad judgements. How in the world can you believe any of them when ex-CJ Sharif is representing Qadri, a self-proclaimed killer??? This beats any logic.
The court has set bad precedence by freeing these murderous thugs for other policemen or law enforcement personnel to watch as spectators and do nothing is being committed. They are as guilty as the other culprits of crime since it was their duty or in their job description to stop a murder being carries out.
@tasawar malik: It is the duty of the police to protect the lives and property of the citizens of the state. If a bunch of people is assaulting or trying to kill someone, then the police cannot stand in the sidelines and watch, but have to come forward and stop the crime from happening. In this case it is not only dereliction of duty, but is complicity in the crime being committed. Therefore, the police are also party to the crime and should be punished.
When is the LHC Chief Justice Sharif going to represent these culprits just like he is representing Qadri? Punjab HC is is bad excuse for a HC in the country. There is not a single killer they did not love. Sharif's govt in Punjab is doing very well for the killers?
Pakistan must come out of its obsession with terrorist groups. Hand them over to the US / UN and focus on modern scientific education as way to true freedom. Else it is doomed.
our government is going to fool us in this case i am sure.one day all of them will be released one by one.on the day of 15th august 2010 there was no law and justice, after one year of this incident still there is no law and justice.......what else they need after this horrifying video nothing effects the police and judges in pakistan..................i feel sad and sorry for mughees and muneeb.
So in other words, the cost of two human lives is Rs. 200,000 in surety bonds. Wow that's a pretty affordable bargain.
When DPO was released, it was all clear that now he will save other police officers. The dead brothers family is making big money by negotiating individually. They started with chief of police and gave him no invovlement certificate. Now they have given same certificate to eight police officers. One by one everyone involved in brutal murders will be released.
A normal thing in Pak. Thats why crime rate ison hype. Not to worry is the endpoint. Killings hv no effect on population as numbers dont change much. So hurting en disgusting such news. Makes us feel ashamed. Evn aftr 60 yrs or so we r in infancy stage.
Fruits of independent judiciary? I will not be surprised if Mumtaz Qadri get released by the independent judicary.
If Police had nothing to do with all this,then let me put forward a question to all of you. If any of your family member is being killed like the way this incident happened and Police was there to witness it but not to take any action,how would you react if this verdict comes into place?
they should've stayed locked up for the duration of the appeal.
These are not the real policemen who were present at that tragic event, hence their faces not being revealed.
justice delayed is justice denied sooner or later all those who were involved will be released...welcome aboard free judiciary !!!
If you think yourself in that mob and you heard that your cousin in hospital died due to the firing of these two, then you might join the mob to torture the firing men and take law in hand. This was about mob. And for Police what a strange thing to save tow DAKAITS they should fire the mob. I dont agree with this. It is qouted that one in England that Animal Activist have attacked the medical researchers to save animal from their operation, that is animal have more rights than doctors. Similarly the two Dakaits has more right.
Tasawar malik either you are a relative to those policemen or you're out of your mind. Because a person in a right state of mind won't say police men had nothing to do with it.
And you thought people could get justice in Pakistan? It is so sad that it has become funny..!?!
Acquitting the criminals One by One... Serving the "Justice" Step by Step... Thumbs Up LHC... All the Terrorists are proud of you...
Hopeless....
What the hell are you talking about Tasawar? Do you think its there job to stand there and just watch!! ?
The rationale used to justify this has to be classic even by LHC standards.
Policemen had nothing to do with the murder of those two boys. All you people need to grow up
Aaww... stupid me.. started dreaming for a while that perpetrators in Pakistan get/will get sentenced.
I think its good decision.. They should just be terminated from their posts for not acting..they were misguided by the mob n were not actually involved.. they just didnt save them.. so neglect of duty=termination of post and not imprisonment..
Wot the hell??? I think all murderers will be freed one by one...:@
Slowly and gradually all policemen have been released and before we know the rest of the convicted will also be set free.