Kot Radha Kishan case: LHC orders police to record statements

Suspects arrested for burning Christian couple are seeking bail.

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the investigation officer of the Kot Radha Kishan incident to record the statements of six suspects who are in jail.

The court issued the directive while hearing a petition for bail. The court ordered Investigation Officer Maqsood Ahmed of Kot Radha Kishan police to present the record of the case before the court on February 10.

Haris Bashir, Waqas Bashir, Arsalan Latif, Usman Latif, Muhammad Hanif and another suspect have filed bail petitions after an anti-terrorism court hearing the case denied their requests.



Their counsel stated that his clients had been falsely implicated in the case. “Police did not even record their statements before sending them to jail under political pressure. They were just arrested and charged with the crime. They had not been present in the area on the day,” he said.

The court asked the investigation officer to present the statements of the suspects. He said the statements had not been recorded yet. The court directed him to record their statements before the next hearing.

Advocate Riaz Anjum, the counsel representing the children of the couple Shama and Shehzad, told the court that police had nominated in the FIR only those who had murdered the couple. A mob had beaten the Christian couple, Shama and Shehzad, to death and burnt their bodies at the brick kiln on November 4, 2014. A total of 59 nominated suspects were arrested in the case. Eleven people had filed bails before the trial court but they were dismissed. Another 12 suspects have filed bail applications before the trial court that are pending.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.