SC puts brakes on Dr Kumbhar trial days before hearing

The Supreme Court has stayed the trial of Dr Shahnawaz Kumbhar's alleged custodial killing and desecration of his body, days before proceedings were due to begin at the Mirpurkhas district and sessions court, throwing into question the Sindh High Court's order shifting the case from the Anti-Terrorism Court. The apex court issued the stay on a petition by Dr Ibrahim Kumbhar, complainant in the FIRs concerning Dr Shahnawaz's alleged custodial killing and desecration. The petitioner has sought restoration of the ATC's jurisdiction, challenging the SHC's April 7 order directing the transfer of the case to the sessions court. The sessions court was scheduled to commence the trial on September 29. Advocate Sajjad Ahmed Chandio, representing the complainant, argued before the Supreme Court that the case should continue before the ATC and objected to the circumstances in which it was transferred. In a further twist, Chandio told the apex court that Sindh's deputy prosecutor general, who was expected to prosecute the case against the accused police officers, had instead filed an application on behalf of a DIG and two SSPs accused in the FIR, seeking transfer of the case from the ATC. The counsel argued that since one of the FIRs under trial had been registered with the FIA, the Sindh deputy prosecutor general had no jurisdiction to represent the accused in seeking transfer of the case. According to him, the matter was supposed to be handled by the federal law officer. The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Prosecutor General Sindh, Advocate General Sindh and Attorney General for Pakistan for October 13, fixing the matter before a three-member bench. Dr Shahnawaz Kumbhar was shot dead in what the complainant describes as a staged police encounter on September 19, 2024, after he surrendered to Mirpurkhas police in Karachi in connection with a blasphemy FIR. After his death, his body was allegedly set on fire by a mob while it was being transported to a graveyard in Umerkot district for burial.