Fake encounter case: Comments sought from SSP Rao Anwar

Man claims his son was detained and killed by police over a land dispute in Malir

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court sought on Monday a reply from Malir SSP Rao Anwar regarding the alleged killing of a man in a fake police encounter. The division bench gave the official till June 3 to submit his reply.

The father of the alleged encounter victim, Gul Faraz Khan, had taken the provincial home secretary, Sindh IG, SSP Anwar and others to court. The petitioner told the judges that he had filed a case regarding illegal occupation over his one-acre land in Malir district. While the case was still pending decision in the relevant court, he was pressured by his opponents to withdraw the case. Khan added the police kidnapped his two sons - Saeedullah and Zafran - upon refusal to take back the case.

The petitioner claimed that Saeedullah was later killed by the police in what he termed a fake encounter, adding that police are now demanding Rs200,000 as a bribe for the release of Zafran.

Khan blamed SSP Anwar for the extrajudicial murder of his son and pleaded the court order an FIR and disciplinary action against the official.

Missing persons

The bench also issued notices to the provincial home secretary, Rangers DG, Sindh IG, relevant DIGs and SHOs on various petitions seeking whereabouts of ‘missing persons’.

The bench, which was exclusively hearing missing persons’ cases, directed the federal and provincial law officers to file replies of the heads of the two law enforcement agencies by July 11.

The petitioners have accused the police and Rangers of unlawfully detaining their relatives. They have pleaded the court to order law enforcers to release the detainees or produce them in courts.

Welcome back

Some of the petitioners confirmed in court on Monday that as many as 15 citizens, who had allegedly been unlawfully detained by law enforcers, have returned home. The relatives of Kashif Riaz, Abdul Majeed, Javed and Shakeel, among others, had filed petitions seeking the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2016.