Sarfaraz Shah murder case: SC judges to determine ambit of case from video footage

The victim, who was seen begging for his life, was shot dead by Rangers on June 8, 2011.

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) called for the video footage of the high-profile Sarfaraz Shah’s murder case, which showed the paramilitary troops killing the unarmed youth in 2012. They will then decide “whether the six convicts’ offence falls within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act.”

A three-member bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Gulzar Ahmed and Muhammad Athar Saeed, also directed its office to make arrangements for them to watch the video. The apex court’s bench, which is hearing the appeals filed by the convicted Rangers personnel, will watch the video at the SC Karachi Registry Branch.

Five Rangers personnel and a civilian have appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) against the rejection of their appeals by the Sindh High Court (SHC), which had observed that “offence committed by the convicts cannot be compromised.”

Viral video

Sarfaraz Shah was shot dead by Rangers personnel inside Karachi’s Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park on June 8, 2011. Initially, the paramilitary force claimed that he was a dacoit and was killed during an encounter.

Later, however, a video footage had emerged which had shown the Rangers men beating and dragging the unarmed 19-year-old boy, who was in turn begging for his life. It also showed the men shooting him and leaving him there to die, lying in a pool of blood.

Taking suo motu notice of the brutal act, the then Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had ordered registration of a murder case against the personnel visible in the video.  In addition, the then Rangers DG and Sindh police IG were removed from their posts to ensure fair investigations.

Rare judgment

In a judgment against law enforcement personnel, the anti-terrorism court had convicted and sentenced the accused under Section 7(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997, read with Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on August 12, 2011.

Rangers operative Shahid Zafar was given the death sentence, while sub-inspector Bahur Rehman, Lance Naik Liaquat Ali, constable Mohammad Tariq, constable Minthar Ali, constable Mohammad Afzal and private contractor Afsar Khan, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Moreover, all were ordered to pay a fine of Rs200,000 each or undergo an additional six months of jail. They were also ordered to pay Rs100,000 each in compensation to the legal heirs.

Rejected compromised

The victim’s family had later “pardoned the convicts in the name of God,” without accepting blood money.

An SHC bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, had on June 21, dismissed the convict’s appeals and rejected the compromise, saying that the offence could not be pardoned through a compromise.

The high court had upheld death and life imprisonments and fines awarded to the convicts, but acquitted one co-accused, Liaquat Ali, for want of evidence.

The convicts appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the SHC had erred in examining the facts. They had appealed to the SC to set aside the high court’s order.

On Wednesday, the SC bench directed the appealing convicts’ lawyer to provide video footage of the incident in order to see whether the offence committed by the appellants fell within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The judges will see the video today (on Thursday).

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2014.