SHO told to appear before court on Jan 1

Karachi

The Station House Officer (SHO) of the Gizri police station has been summoned by a local court on January 16, to apprise it of the facts of the January 1 ‘encounter’ of 20-year-old Zakaria Janjua, on Thursday.

Notices were also issued to other respondents to submit their comments regarding the case.

The directives were given by a district and sessions court (South) judge on an application filed by the deceased’s mother.

As per her statement, Zakaria had returned to Karachi from Malaysia – where he had went on a student visa – only a few days ago.

She claimed that he was attacked by the policemen and killed in a fake encounter after he refused to hand over cash – that he had withdrawn from the area’s ATM – and two expensive mobile phones that he was carrying.

Following the incident, the police issued a statement claiming they were approached by a motorcyclist, Eshan Asghar, near Jami Commercial Street who had informed them of being robbed by two men at gunpoint.

The police said they rushed to the place where Asghar had been mugged and chased the robbers, who fired at them. They claimed that Zakaria was killed in the encounter that ensued following the attack on police officials, whereas his ‘accomplice’ Ghulam Azad suffered injuries.

The police also maintained that they had found the two in possession of the looted items.

Arrested following the shootout, Azad was currently under a 10-day physical remand, handed down by a judicial magistrate on January 5.

In addition to the robbery case, he was also facing two additional charges pertaining to possession of an unlicensed weapon and shootout; the cases have been referred to an Anti-terrorism Court (ATC).

The magistrate concerned - Noor Muhammad Kalmati - was complained by the accused of having been tortured, however, according to a physical examination, carried out by an official of the court, there were no visible signs of torture on the body.

Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal as well as the provincial chief minister had ordered an inquiry into the case after the deceased’s family staged protests following the incident.