Fake Encounter: Suo motu hearing ends

A challan was filed against 4 policemen accused of killing a young man in custody.

LAHORE:

The chief justice of the Lahore High Court ended suo motu proceedings in a staged encounter case on Thursday, a day after a challan was filed against four policemen accused of killing a young man in custody.

Additional Advocate General Hanif Khatana presented a report of the Punjab IG in court stating that the challan had been filed in the trial court. The report said that a provincial-level committee had been set up to monitor police encounters. DSP Riasat Ali Javed, SI Riaz and Constables Qadir and Asif are accused of killing Shahbaz Butt. Earlier, Advocate Aftab Ahmad, representing the two constables, sought to become a party in the suo motu proceedings. He said his clients were wrongly implicated in the case. He said that the station house officer was the main culprit, but he was not even interrogated because he had ties to an additional inspector general of Police. The chief justice asked the counsel to file a separate petition. Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2011.