Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Tuesday ordered the inspector general of police, the Punjab chief secretary and Punjab home secretary to check the trend of killing people in fake police encounters.
The CJ ordered police to complete its inquiry into the killing of Shahbaz Butt in a fake encounter within 15 days and submit a challan before the trial court which would decide the matter within 30 days after receiving the challan. Warning the province’s top bureaucracy, the LHC chief justice observed that incidents such as those in Kharotabad and Karachi would not be allowed to happen in Punjab, adding that police should not feel at liberty to kill people and pass them off as “encounters”.
The CJ was conducting proceedings on a suo motu notice of a fake police encounter in which Butt was killed in Nishtar Colony and had summoned the Punjab chief secretary, Punjab IG and others to ask questions about the state of affairs in the province.
