‘Fake encounter’: Police accused of asking for bribe

SHO rejects claim, accuses suspect's family of creating drama

HYDERABAD: A judicial raid at a police station in Sanghar district exposed an alleged fake encounter in which the police have been accused of demanding a Rs500,000 bribe from the injured suspect's family.

Ali Dost Jamali told the media that the police asked him to give them Rs500,000 for medical treatment of his brother, Taj Muhammad Jamali, who was shot in the leg during an 'encounter' and was kept in the police lock-up.



"They threatened that his wound [sustained during the encounter] may cause his death if not given proper medical care at a good health facility," said Jamali. According to him, his family learned about the fake encounter on July 17 after which they filed a habeas corpus petition in the court about his safe recovery.

When the judicial magistrate raided the Chautiari police station on Tuesday, he found that the bandage tied to Jamali's leg was a fake and he had not suffered any gunshot wound.

However, his police custody was not illegal as he was recently nominated in an FIR related to a robbery. In a statement given to the court on Wednesday, Chautiari police SHO Abdul Haq Korai claimed that the family staged the entire drama to make Jamali's arrest controversial.



"The family brought food for Jamali at the lock-up and met him minutes before the judicial magistrate's raid," he said, accusing the suspect and his family of wrapping the bandage to make a case against the police. He said the police had obtained Jamali's three-day physical remand as part of the robbery case against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2016.