Bereaved
parents blame police for children's death
Source: Dawn, the
internet edition … Mar 20, 2001 |
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KARACHI, March
19: A mother, also a senior civil judge, lost her two
children, on Monday, when the police opened indiscriminate
firing at a car in which three bandits attempted to flee by
holding the judge's family hostage.
According to the family, Rashida Asad, Senior Civil and
Assistant Sessions Judge, West, was occupying the front,
passenger seat of the car, holding her two-and-a-half-year-old
son Auzan in her arms, with her five-year-old daughter, Aliza,
sitting beside her. The husband was driving the official car
(GS-2104) in which the bandits held them captive at gunpoint,
as they wanted to flee under hostage cover.
The family was terrified of the situation and as the car came
in reverse out of the house and the police party present
started firing at it, the source claimed. Asad, the husband of
the civil judge, told Source: Dawn, the internet edition that
two bullets broke the windscreen of the car as he sped away.
Rashida Asad's 10-year-old daughter came out of the house,
asking the police to stop firing at the car since her father,
mother, a brother and sister were in it. However, no heed was
paid to her warnings and the firing continued, eyewitnesses
and neighbours said.
The grief-stricken Asad said that he conformed with the
bandits' demands to take the car where they wanted, reaching a
roundabout on Sharea Quaideen, where they snatched gold
bangles from Rashida Asad and escaped towards the Lines Area,
leaving one of their injured behind, in the back seat of the
car.
"I turned the car towards the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical
Centre (JPMC) as my wife told me that my daughter was injured
and unconscious," Asad said, and added that on seeing a
police mobile, they stopped told the police about the
situation. "The police took the injured bandit lying on
the rear seat out of the car, and told us to proceed to the
hospital," Asad maintained.
The father of the two ill-fated children said that they rushed
their daughter to the hospital where the doctor declared her
dead on arrival. "My wife then asked the doctor to check
Auzan as he was also unconscious. We found no injury mark on
him, but the doctor declared him dead. Later, we came to know
that a bullet, which had grazed my wife's hand, pierced
Auzan's temple, resulting in fatal injury to him."
According to the family, the bandits broke into the house
(24-F, Block-2, PECHS) and held the youngest son Auzan at
gunpoint, ordering Asad to drive the getaway car. The bandits
also ordered Rashida Asad to accompany them. At this point,
their five-year-old daughter, Aliza, insisted on going with
them.
The bandits, sensing someone just outside the main entrance,
shot two bullets into the gate. As a result, ASI Sarwar
suffered bullet wounds. The bandits then ordered the family to
take the vehicle out.
The bereaved father told Source: Dawn, the internet edition
that he reversed the car and then turned right. As the car
gained acceleration, fire opened from a police mobile.
A senior police official said the bandits shot at the police,
at which they had to return fire in "self defence".
The police was unable to look at the occupants of the car due
to tinted windows, he added.
Asad claimed that the bandits had fired when they were inside
the house but they did not open fire from inside the car. He
said the police opened fire from the front side of the car.
"The windscreen of the car is not tinted and the police
could easily see the occupants of the car. I was sitting at
the steering wheel, with my wife and children sitting beside
me on the front passenger seat," he added.
The neighbours opined that the police should have fired at the
car tyres in a bid to stop the car, even if only the bandits
occupied it, and not started firing immediately.
While the police claimed that they were after the bandits who
had entered the judge's house, Asad asserted that no one had
called the police from his home.
A neighbour who was witness to the whole incident, said he saw
at least a dozen police mobiles present outside the house of
the senior civil judge, which surrounded the entire area.
The DIG Karachi, Tariq Jamil, said that police did not open
indiscriminate fire and had fired only six bullets. As the
dacoits had fired several shots inside the house, the police
assumed that they had killed someone. The police did not have
any idea that the family was inside the car due to tinted
glasses and that the police had fired from the rear. The
police action was in good faith, he added.
As to why the police did not fire at the tyres, the DIG said
the police should have done so, but didn't, which showed lack
of proper training.
Later, an FIR was registered against the police at Ferozabad
Police Station. |
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