KARACHI: A sessions court sentenced a policeman to death and life term to two others in a case pertaining to the killing of a young man in a fake encounter.

Three police constables Faisal,Shahryar and Nasir were charged with the murder of 26-year-old Amir Husain, who was gunned down by the policemen in an apartment complex in Gulistan-i-Jauhar after a chase as he allegedly did not stop his bike during snap checking in 2022.

The case was initially tried by an antiterrorism court, but after the terrorism charges were withdrawn, it was transferred to a sessions court.

After hearing state prosecutor Pervez Ahmed Qureshi and the defence, Additional District and Sessions Judge (East) Aziz-ur-Rehman Junejo convicted the three policemen.

The judge sentenced Shahryar todeath, as he was the one who fired the shots that killed the victim, while Faisal and Nasir were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The court also ordered all three convicts to pay Rs500,000 each to the legal heirs of the deceased in compensation.

The court observed that the `unarmed and unresisting` man was parking his motorcycle in his apartment building and walking down towards the stairs when he was shot twice. It noted that one piece of evidence suggested that he had raised his hands in an attempt to stop the police fire.

`The shooting was carried out in the presence of a three-and-a-half-year-oldchild in a populated residential society, causing terror among the residents,` the court observed.

The court further observed that accused Shehryar was a police constable and a member of a force whose duty was to `protect the lives of citizens and use force only as the law allows`.

However, he misused the power and the weapon entrusted to him to take the life of a citizen for no reason other than that he had failed to stop at a signal.

`An act of this kind destroys public confidence in law enforcement agencies and calls for a deterrent sentence,` the court observed. The defence had claimed that the accused were falsely implicated in the case, alleging that the deceased had a criminal record. It also questioned why his friend who was travelling with the victim on the bike had left him and taken the child home instead of taking him to hospital.

The court rejected these contentions, observing that the prosecution witness was accompanying the deceased and the child, who was sitting on the motorcycle`s fueltank. It added that the witness`s conduct was a `human reaction in the face of sudden violence` when three armed policemen in uniform opened fire on his friend.

Regarding the allegation of the deceased`s criminal record, the court observed that the defence had failed to produce any witness or documentary evidence in support of its claim. It further noted that nothing had been recovered from the deceased at the time of the incident.

A case was registered at the Sharea Faisal police station underSections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to contents of the FIR, Amir was on his way to bring medicines for his father who had recently suffered paralysis. He was riding a motorbike when policemen indicated him to stop.

`However, Husain did not stop and drove his bike inside Noman Avenue apartment. He disembarked from the bike and was on his way to his parent`s house when the policemen opened fire at him, it said. He died on the spot.