SHC sets aside life term in cop killing case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has set aside the life imprisonment of a man, who was convicted in a policeman killing case, due to lack of evidence. Irfan, alias Jabbal, was sentenced to life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court which found him guilty of murdering a policeman in the Mehmoodabad area in 2014.

According to the prosecution, the appellant had fired at a police patrolling party when they intercepted him, which caused the death of a policeman, Javed Akhtar. A counsel for the appellant submitted that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against Irfan as there were contradictions in the statements of the eyewitnesses and the benefit of the doubt should be given to the appellant.

The appellant’s counsel requested the SHC to set aside his conviction. A state counsel supported the prosecution case and submitted that the prosecution had proved its case against the appellant beyond any reasonable doubt.

The SHC, after hearing the arguments of the counsel and perusal of the evidence, observed that the prosecution could not prove its case against the appellant successfully and set aside the trial court order. The court ordered to release the appellant if not required in any other cases.

Missing persons case

The SHC directed a federal law officer to a file statement with regard to whereabouts of missing persons as whether they were detained at any internment centres in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or elsewhere.

The direction came on identical petitions against illegal detention of citizens who were allegedly picked up by the personnel of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs). Petitioners alleged that the detainees were picked up by the personnel of LEAs during raids at different parts of the city in the name of interrogation and their whereabouts were unknown for several years. The court also directed joint investigation teams and the provincial task force to submit their progress report on the next date of hearing.

On disappearance of Jalees Ahmed and Bakht Munir from the Korangi and Manghopir areas, the high court directed the federal and provincial law officers to file comments with regard to the whereabouts of them. The petitioners submitted that the police were not taking efforts for the recovery of Ahmed and Munir, an employee of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation who had been missing since June 10, 2015.