Justice denied: No decision yet on 28-year-old complaint
Six of the policemen named in the complaint have passed away
LAHORE:
A harassment, torture and murder compliant filed in 1985 against 20 police officers by a former MPA has yet to be decided.
According to the complainant former MPA Mehdi Hassan, the policemen raided his dera and harassed and beat up those present there to humiliate them. One of the men had his nose pierced and a leash attached to it.
Eight out of the 50 prosecution witnesses have recorded their statements. At the previous proceeding, Judge Sadiq Masood Sabir had issued arrest warrants for the witnesses who have not turned up and directed legal affairs DSP to produce them.
Six of the policemen named in the complaint - DSP Shaikh Qurban Ali, Inspectors Rana Muhammad Hussain and Ashraf Bhola and Sub-Inspectors Nazeer, Sadaqat Khan and Salamt Khan - have already died.
SI Shamshad Ali and Constable Nakeeb Khan have retired from service and filed applications, seeking exemption from appearance due to old age.
SP Younas Bhatti, DSP Liaquat Ali, Inspectors Ghulam Rasool, Kausar Ali, Mubarik Ali Shah, SI Arif, ASP Yousaf and Constables Muhammad Hussain and Shabbeer Sabir are attending the proceedings.
According to the complainant, the policemen raided Hassan’s dera on May 2, 1985 ostensibly to arrest Muzaffar, a proclaimed offender.
“Enayat Shah, Manzoor Aslam, Nazar Ahmed, Bashir Amed and Muhammad Nazeer were forced to undress by the policemen and dance before women. The policemen pierced Ghulam Ali’s nose, put a ring through it and tied him to a tree. They tortured Ashiq to death and buried the body in an empty plot. The body was exhumed later on court orders and a post mortem examination proved that the deceased had been tortured to death,” Hassan said.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Mehdi Hassan said that he was disappointed in the judicial system. “The culprits are free and the victims have been made to wait for decades to get justice,” he said.
His counsel Muhammad Qasim said that the accused had obtained a stay order from the Lahore High Court that kept the trial pending for 10 years and then the prosecution witnesses would not turn up.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Rai Zamirul Haq, one of the accused who was then an assistant sub Inspector and is now the Muzaffargarh DPO, said the allegations levelled against the policemen were false. “Mehdi Hassan used to shelter a number of proclaimed offenders at his dera. We received a tipoff that one of the proclaimed offenders, Muzaffar, wanted in more than 150 cases of murder and robbery, was present at his dera. The information came from Muhammad Hussain, then munshi (personal assistant) of Mehdi Hassan. When we reached there, Muzaffar had fled. We had to return empty handed. When Mehdi Hassan learned about the raid, he vowed to exact revenge. He had his munshi poisoned, who died. He also abducted a patient from a hospital, who later died. Then, he claimed that we had tortured and murdered that person. Later, a forensic report proved that that person had died of a disease,” he said.
Advocate Azfar Kamal Kharal, counsel for Zamirul Haq, said that record of Mehdi Hassan’s first statement in the case had been stolen. “He had the statement stolen because it exonerated all the policemen. Now he is ready to record a fresh statement. However, we cannot agree to such a step,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2014.
A harassment, torture and murder compliant filed in 1985 against 20 police officers by a former MPA has yet to be decided.
According to the complainant former MPA Mehdi Hassan, the policemen raided his dera and harassed and beat up those present there to humiliate them. One of the men had his nose pierced and a leash attached to it.
Eight out of the 50 prosecution witnesses have recorded their statements. At the previous proceeding, Judge Sadiq Masood Sabir had issued arrest warrants for the witnesses who have not turned up and directed legal affairs DSP to produce them.
Six of the policemen named in the complaint - DSP Shaikh Qurban Ali, Inspectors Rana Muhammad Hussain and Ashraf Bhola and Sub-Inspectors Nazeer, Sadaqat Khan and Salamt Khan - have already died.
SI Shamshad Ali and Constable Nakeeb Khan have retired from service and filed applications, seeking exemption from appearance due to old age.
SP Younas Bhatti, DSP Liaquat Ali, Inspectors Ghulam Rasool, Kausar Ali, Mubarik Ali Shah, SI Arif, ASP Yousaf and Constables Muhammad Hussain and Shabbeer Sabir are attending the proceedings.
According to the complainant, the policemen raided Hassan’s dera on May 2, 1985 ostensibly to arrest Muzaffar, a proclaimed offender.
“Enayat Shah, Manzoor Aslam, Nazar Ahmed, Bashir Amed and Muhammad Nazeer were forced to undress by the policemen and dance before women. The policemen pierced Ghulam Ali’s nose, put a ring through it and tied him to a tree. They tortured Ashiq to death and buried the body in an empty plot. The body was exhumed later on court orders and a post mortem examination proved that the deceased had been tortured to death,” Hassan said.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Mehdi Hassan said that he was disappointed in the judicial system. “The culprits are free and the victims have been made to wait for decades to get justice,” he said.
His counsel Muhammad Qasim said that the accused had obtained a stay order from the Lahore High Court that kept the trial pending for 10 years and then the prosecution witnesses would not turn up.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Rai Zamirul Haq, one of the accused who was then an assistant sub Inspector and is now the Muzaffargarh DPO, said the allegations levelled against the policemen were false. “Mehdi Hassan used to shelter a number of proclaimed offenders at his dera. We received a tipoff that one of the proclaimed offenders, Muzaffar, wanted in more than 150 cases of murder and robbery, was present at his dera. The information came from Muhammad Hussain, then munshi (personal assistant) of Mehdi Hassan. When we reached there, Muzaffar had fled. We had to return empty handed. When Mehdi Hassan learned about the raid, he vowed to exact revenge. He had his munshi poisoned, who died. He also abducted a patient from a hospital, who later died. Then, he claimed that we had tortured and murdered that person. Later, a forensic report proved that that person had died of a disease,” he said.
Advocate Azfar Kamal Kharal, counsel for Zamirul Haq, said that record of Mehdi Hassan’s first statement in the case had been stolen. “He had the statement stolen because it exonerated all the policemen. Now he is ready to record a fresh statement. However, we cannot agree to such a step,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2014.