Extra judicial killing in Lahore: LHC asks govt to review appointments

LHC asks govt to review appointment of CCPO and DIG Operations. Hearing adjourned for 15 days.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday asked the government to review the appointment of Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore, Ahmed Raza Tahi and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations, Ghulam Muhammad Dogar while hearing a suo motu case against the extra judicial killing of a robbery suspect in a staged encounter.

The Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Inspector General of Police (IG) Punjab were present in the court during the hearing.

Chief Justice LHC, Justice Ijaz Ahmed ordered the trial court to complete case proceedings within thirty days and observed that police forces do not have the liberty to kill people.

The court demanded a report on all previous police encounters in the province be submitted and directed IG Punjab to create a forum for families affected by the encounters. The IG replied in the affirmative and told the court that he would personally monitor the forum.

The hearing has been adjourned for fifteen days.

Earlier, a first information report (FIR) had been registered against four policemen including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) for the extra judicial killing.

Background

The shooting occurred after a robbery at Makkah Medical Store in Youhanabad on Friday night. Three suspects including a man identified as Shehbaz Butt tried to hold up the store and took Rs35,000, but the store owner resisted and got into a fight with Butt. The other two robbers fled and Butt was overpowered by the owner and another man. They called the police, and two Muhafiz Squad bikes followed by a police vehicle arrived at the scene and Sub Inspector Riaz took Butt into custody.

The policemen later claimed that they had been returning to the police station when they identified and started chasing some motorbike snatchers. They said that Butt had tried to escape during the chase and been caught in a crossfire between the police and the bike snatchers.

Based on evidence, the inquiry found that the police had lied and had staged a fake encounter at Rohi drain where they killed Butt, who had no criminal record.