Lahore High Court Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry dismissed a civil application seeking stay of the Nishtar Colony murder case trial proceedings at the sessions court on Wednesday.
The police had killed Shahbaz Butt, 22, in a fake encounter in Nishtar Colony on June 12 and the CJ, by taking suo motu notice, had referred the matter to the trial court. The application to freeze the trial proceedings was filed by accused police constable Asif’s mother. It was made part of the main petition pending in the LHC.
The CJ dismissed the application saying the trial could not be stopped because the court had yet to see whether fresh investigations could be ordered. He also adjourned the main petition’s hearing till next week. The accused constables submitted that the police encounter was staged on the orders of the Saddar Police superintendent upon instructions from the capital city police officer (CCPO) Lahore and the deputy inspector general (operations) Lahore, hence the constables, being subordinate, were innocent. They alleged that the Nishtar Colony Police Station investigation officer and station house officer (SHO), despite being directly involved in the encounter, had not been accused in the case as they had connections with the additional inspector general.
