News
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Seven get death in Sialkot lynching case* Six awarded life imprisonment
* DPO among 10 policemen to serve three years jail
SIALKOT: In a landmark decision, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Gujranwala on Tuesday handed down death punishments to seven accused and life imprisonment to six others in a case in which two brothers, Mughees and Muneeb of Sialkot, were brutally lynched in full public view in August last year.
Ten policemen, including District Police Officer (DPO) Waqar Chohan, were also awarded three years in jail.
Teenage brothers Hafiz Mugheez and Hafiz Muneeb were mercilessly tortured to death by a mob in the presence of police officials at Buttar village in Sialkot on August 15, 2010. The lynching outraged the nation and received massive media attention.
Later, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took a suo motu notice of the lynching and later transferred the case to ATC.
Parents and other relatives of the Hafiz brothers welcomed the court’s decision. They hailed the chief justice for taking suo motu notice on the case and for taking the case to its logical conclusion. They also praised the media for projecting the incident and siding with the suppressed people.
The government lawyers also expressed their satisfaction over the decision of the court and described it as a message to barbaric people. They said that in future the people would think 10 times before committing such crimes. inp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk