Contradictory claims: Accused dies in prison, leaving a question mark over his ‘crimes’

Prosecution claimed Jokhio was arrested after an encounter; defence claimed the story was ‘fabricated’.

KARACHI: Had the jail police presented Hussain Jokhio alias Mumtaz, an under-trail prisoner, on April 22 before the anti-terrorism court, there would have been an end to his story.

That day, the court was to announce a verdict in the cases against him.

Unfortunately, this never happened — Jokhio died in prison last week, leaving the court undecided. Accused of several charges of robbery, attempt to murder, attacking public servants and possession of illicit weapons, Jokhio was arrested by the police last year after an alleged encounter that left him with four bullet wounds.

The prosecution's version



The prosecution's story starts with two police constables, riding a motorcycle on a deserted road, going to deliver mail at the office of Malir SSP Rao Anwar at around 11pm. They had stopped somewhere on Malir River Road when two suspects wearing kameez shalwar approached them and forced them to give up their cash and mobile phones at gunpoint. One of the constables resisted the robbery bid, which resulted in an exchange of fire.

Subsequently, both the suspects were injured while the police personnel remained unhurt. The suspects, however, seemed tough as they did not stop the confrontation. The sound of firing echoed through the area and minutes later, a police team led by an ASI, reached the spot. On seeing their colleagues under fire, the police personnel joined the fight. Eventually, the law enforcers rounded up an injured suspect, who revealed his name as Mumtaz, while the other managed to escape, taking 'advantage of the dark'. The police then took the suspect to a hospital for treatment.

The defence, on the other hand, claimed the whole story was 'fabricated' and the suspect was falsely implicated in the case. "Jokhio is a labourer. That day, he was going home from work," said his lawyer. "He was shot four times by unknown persons and fainted. When he gained consciousness, he found himself in police custody."

The defence contended that if there had been an exchange of fire, the police should have brought empties before the court as evidence. But they did not, the lawyer added, questioning what kind of mail were police personnel going to deliver at that time of the night.

The aforementioned claims were debated for over a year in two ATCs. First in the ATC-I, and then in the ATC-V.

The ATC-V had completed the trial of the accused and was scheduled to announce the verdict on Tuesday, when the central jail officials informed the court through a letter that the suspect had died last week. The letter read that the suspect was rushed to Civil hospital but he died a few hours after being admitted.

The jail official also submitted a medical certificate which stated that Jokhio was suffering from 'sepsis with multi organ failure.' His cause of death was, however, written as cardiac pulmonary arrest.

According to the lawyer, his client was suffering from infections in his wounds but the jail authorities did not provide him the treatment he was supposed to receive.

The court has, however, set the case as abated.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2015.