Injuries in custody: Court unhappy with medical report
Man charged with sectarian killing returned to jail.
KARACHI:
A man charged with heading a gang that targeted scholars from a rival sect was sent back to jail after medical experts failed to explain how exactly he was injured while in custody.
Muntazir Imam was arrested in a case registered at Shahrae Faisal police station over the target killing of Hafiz Manzoor Hussain, who was gunned down in April 2010. According to his family, he has been in custody for three months. According to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) police, Imam confessed to leading the gang of killers that has been able to successfully hit at noted scholars of a rival sect.
The administrative judge for the anti-terrorism courts was dissatisfied with the medical board’s findings, submitted last Wednesday, and returned the report, directing the doctors to state how exactly the injuries were caused or sustained on the accused man’s buttocks.
On Friday, after a long wait, the court was informed that a corrected medical report was still awaited. The judge then deferred the proceedings. This augured well for Muntazir Imam who was brought to court from Central Prison Karachi in an armoured personnel carrier in view of his alleged involvement in the high-profile killings.
About half a dozen police vans and about two dozen policemen guarded him as he took a stroll in the court premises. A large number of his relatives helplessly watched from a distance as they were told to keep away by the police. The two lawyers engaged by the family and a sectarian organisation were the exceptions and they had ample time to discuss the strategy for his defence. The judge has also summoned all the investigating officers of nine cases registered and under investigation by the CID police. He has extended Imam’s judicial custody to June 14.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2011.
A man charged with heading a gang that targeted scholars from a rival sect was sent back to jail after medical experts failed to explain how exactly he was injured while in custody.
Muntazir Imam was arrested in a case registered at Shahrae Faisal police station over the target killing of Hafiz Manzoor Hussain, who was gunned down in April 2010. According to his family, he has been in custody for three months. According to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) police, Imam confessed to leading the gang of killers that has been able to successfully hit at noted scholars of a rival sect.
The administrative judge for the anti-terrorism courts was dissatisfied with the medical board’s findings, submitted last Wednesday, and returned the report, directing the doctors to state how exactly the injuries were caused or sustained on the accused man’s buttocks.
On Friday, after a long wait, the court was informed that a corrected medical report was still awaited. The judge then deferred the proceedings. This augured well for Muntazir Imam who was brought to court from Central Prison Karachi in an armoured personnel carrier in view of his alleged involvement in the high-profile killings.
About half a dozen police vans and about two dozen policemen guarded him as he took a stroll in the court premises. A large number of his relatives helplessly watched from a distance as they were told to keep away by the police. The two lawyers engaged by the family and a sectarian organisation were the exceptions and they had ample time to discuss the strategy for his defence. The judge has also summoned all the investigating officers of nine cases registered and under investigation by the CID police. He has extended Imam’s judicial custody to June 14.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2011.