SC rejects petition against police officers’ bail in Benazir murder case

The Supreme Court (SC) rejected on Friday a petition filed against the bails granted to two police officers accused in Benazir Bhutto's murder case.

The petition was filed against two police officers by Rashida Bibi, mother of Benazir’s chief security officer Tauqeer Kaira, who was also killed in the same attack in which Benazir was assassinated.

The accused officers, former city police officer (CPO) Saud Aziz and Superintendent of Police (SP) Khurram Shahzad, were awarded 17 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court. However, they were later granted bail by the Islamabad High Court.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa took up the case hearing today. The lawyers of the accused argued that since the petitioner Rashida had died, her petition was ineffective, local media reported. However, the bench rejected the accused lawyers' appeal after the court were informed by the petitioner's lawyer Latif Khosa that Rashida's daughter has become a part of the petition.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the apex court also dismissed the petition against the suspension of the police officers.

The petition, which was filed last year in November, stated that apart from being granted bail, the two officers were also posted at important positions. The petitioner further said in the petition that the former CPO and SP are suspects in the murder case because soon after Benazir's death, they cleaned the site of the incident.