An anti-terrorism court on Monday awarded a collective sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment to a man in cases pertaining to an encounter with police, attempted murder and possession of illicit arms.Sohail Ahmed Dawoodputa was found guilty of attacking the police with his unlicenced pistol within the jurisdiction of the Sharea Faisal police station last year.
The anti-terrorism court (ATC-II) judge pronounced his verdict earlier reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both defence and prosecution sides. He ruled that the prosecution successfully proved the charges against the accused without any shadow of doubt.
The convict was told to pay a Rs13,000 fine and in case of default he would have to undergo additional imprisonment of nine months. Following the pronouncement of the judgement, the man, who was out on bail, was taken into custody and sent to the prison to serve out the sentence.
The judge put the case of his absconding accomplice, Muhammad Panah, on dormant file until his arrest. State prosecutor Ghulam Murtaza Metlo argued that the two men were habitual offenders as they had been involved in looting citizens, adding that they fired shots at the policemen with an intention to kill them. He said there was sufficient ocular as well as forensic evidence to corroborate the charges against the accused and pleaded with the court to punish them according to the law.
Accused Panah had absconded after obtaining bail from the court.Three cases were registered against the accused under sections 324 (attempted murder) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with Section 7 (punishment for terrorism) and Section 23(i)a of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013 at the Sharea Faisal police station.
