Police 'encounters’ in Karachi need to be thoroughly investigated: SHC

Court accepts bail plea of suspect as police fail to submit medical certificate of injuries he suffered in 'encounter'

Declaring yet another incident of a police encounter in Karachi  suspicious, the Sindh High Court (SHC) accepted the bail plea of a suspect on Monday.

The prosecution team told the court that Rafiqullah was arrested following a police encounter in Karachi’s PIB Colony in 2015, Express News reported. It added that the police had found a 30-bore pistol, ammunition and drugs in his possession.

The court, however, asked the prosecutors as to why a medical certificate was not submitted even though the police claimed that Rafiqullah had suffered a bullet wound to his head in an exchange of fire.

It observed that such police encounters raised questions over the department's performance.

Inquiry into 20 police encounters finds flaws in six cases

The defence lawyer told the court that a fake police encounter case was registered against his client on the behest of an influential person.

The court concluded that the issue of police encounters needed to be further investigated.

Later, Rafiqullah, who was denied bail by an anti-terrorism court earlier, was granted bail against a surety bond of Rs100,000.

Earlier this year, police officers were found involved in misusing their powers in six of 20 cases when the anti-terrorism courts'  administrative judge ordered an intra-departmental inquiry into 65 cases of alleged staged encounters in Karachi.