Fake encounter: Magistrate orders case against policemen to be registered under ATA

17-year-old Atiqullah was killed on Friday in what police claimed was an 'encounter'

KARACHI: On the first day of their case in court, the family of the victims of NIPA Chowrangi 'fake' encounter met their initial demand that the policemen involved should be prosecuted for this criminal act of killing and injuring their children under the anti-terrorism law.

The East district magistrate, Shah Waliullah, ordered the investigating officer to add Sections 6 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the case against policemen Zafar Abbas and Bandal for the 'fake' encounter. Saeed Atiqullah, 17, a student of Rangers Cadet College enrolled in second year, was fatally shot while his cousin, Azizullah, 19, was wounded in what police initially asserted was an encounter with 'criminals' near NIPA Chowrangi on October 7. The encounter claim, however, appeared bogus as neither arms were recovered from the victims nor were they found having any criminal history. Instead, it emerged that the two cousins were going to attend an English language class at an institute in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and were shot by the policemen after they did not stop upon being signalled.

During the hearing, Advocate Amanullah Yusufzai, the lawyer representing the victims' family, opposed the remand of the suspects from a regular court and argued that the case fell within the ambit of the anti-terrorism law and should be dealt with at the relevant forum. Yusufzai contended that the one of the suspects, Abbas, who allegedly fired the shots, was an official of the Police Qaumi Razakar - an auxiliary police force - and did not possess policing powers. He was not lawfully entitled to carry a weapon and thus committed a crime, the lawyer added.

Maintaining that the case should be referred to the administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs), he said that firing in daylight by the policemen terrorised people and referred to a mobile phone-made video of the incident by a passer-by in which the two victims are seen lying in a pool of blood, crying for help. The public prosecutor told the judge that the matter is being probed by the police and a clear picture will only be available once the investigations are carried out. He, however, did not oppose referring the matter to the ATCs.

The magistrate, concluding the hearing, granted the police a three-day transit remand of the suspects and ordered inclusion of Sections 6 and 7 of the ATA in the FIR. He directed the investigation officer to produce the suspects before the ATCs' administrative judge after the Ashura holidays.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2016.