‘Extra judicial’ killing: Judge suspects police claim of encounter ‘in self defence’

Post-mortem examination report shows victim was shot in back and back of head.

FAISALABAD:

Rebuffing the claim of Sahianwala police that they killed a suspect in shootout, Civil Judge Shakeel Ahmad Sipra on Thursday ordered the initiation of an inquiry against the policemen involved.

Having received the post-mortem examination report of the deceased, sought at a previous hearing, the judge observed that the police’s story sounded unbelievable as their statements did not match.

The judge directed the city police officer to constitute an independent police team to interrogate all the policemen involved in the ‘encounter’ individually.

The respondent policemen told the court that they had shot the suspect in self defence.

Not satisfied with the police’s statements, the judge said that the post-mortem examination revealed that the deceased was shot eight times, mostly in the back and the back of his head.

“Statements of the policemen and initial investigation show that they did not take any step to apprehend the suspect. It is evident that they were all focusing on killing him. Furthermore, it cannot be a coincidence that the shootout continued for half-an-hour and none of the policemen was hit,” the judge said.

The deceased, Muhammad Khalid, was shot by the police on June 26.

The respondent station house officer, Sanaullah, had told the court that on June 26, he and some other policemen were on patrol duty near Sahianwala sewerage line when they noticed four men on two motorcycles turn away after seeing them (police).

He said the police signalled them to stop, but they started firing at the police instead. He said the police shot back and chased them. He said after some 30 minutes, one of the four men was hit and fell from the motorcycle. He said the other three men fled.

He said before the injured could be taken to a hospital, he succumbed to his injuries. He was later identified as Muhammad Khalid, he said.

Following the incident, the city police officer (CPO) had requested a district and sessions judge to hold a judicial inquiry into the encounter after the family of the deceased accused the police of a planned killing. The judge had then ordered the CPO to hold initial investigations and had sought the post-mortem examination report of the deceased.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2012.