Justice served: ATC announces 22-year prison sentence for two convicts

Accused were arrested by Rangers when they were looting citizens in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) sentenced two men to a total of 22 years each in prison on Tuesday, in an encounter and attempted murder case. The men were also sentenced for possession of illegal weapons.

Rao Muhammad Kaleem and Babar Ali were found guilty of possessing illicit weapons, opening fire on Rangers officials and leaving one of them injured in Gulistan-e-Jauhar in April 2012.

According to the prosecution, the accused were looting citizens and opened fire on a Rangers team patrolling in the area. As a result of the firing, a Rangers personnel, Javed, who was also the complainant in the case, was injured. Rangers had subsequently managed to arrest both the men on the spot.



A case, No. 106/12, under sections 324 (attempted murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention), read with section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, was registered against the men at Gulistan-e-Jauhar police station.

Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of the ATC-I pronounced his verdict after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The court handed down 10-year imprisonment to each of the convicts for attempted murder and imposed a fine of Rs30,000 each. In case of non-payment, the convicts would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

For using criminal force against the Rangers officials, the convicts were sentenced to five years and a fine of Rs20,000.

The court also sentenced them to seven years in prison for possession of illicit weapons and imposed a fine of Rs10,000 each. They would suffer an additional six-month imprisonment in case of default. All sentences would run concurrently.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2014.