Dr Deepak Raj. PHOTO: FILE
The 26-year-old member of the Hindu community has been receiving treatment for injuries while in police custody since April 2015, when he was declared a notorious criminal and shot multiple times in a staged encounter.
The drama, according to the family, unfolded on the evening of April 10, 2015. Deepak, who ran a clinic in Korangi, had gone to meet a friend at Fateh Chowk, SITE in Hyderabad about opening a clinic there.
A plainclothes police team, led by SITE SHO Mohammad Ali Mughal, soon arrived at the place. Mistaking Deepak for Shareef Panhwar, a wanted dacoit with a bounty of Rs2.5 million on his head, they promptly took him into custody.
“They arrested me and inquired if I was Shareef,” recalls Deepak. Without giving him a chance to explain who he really was, the policemen started shooting at him in an alleged encounter. The psychiatrist suffered 12 bullets in the left leg and three in the right. Three more rounds hit him in the right arm from close range.
Deepak’s ordeal is but one of numerous instances where Sindh police have overstretched their judicial powers, notoriously known as “half-fry” and “full-fry” in the vernacular across the province.
The term ‘full-fry’ means suspects are shot dead on the spot while those lucky are only ‘half-fried’: shot, injured and taken into custody.
Police insist that Deepak is Shareef – a notorious robber – and was arrested after an exchange of fire in which two members of his ‘gang’ were killed and two were injured. Despite presenting proof of his identity, the psychiatrist remains in police custody for the past 13 months. He has never been presented before a magistrate, let alone charged for a crime.
Before they got married, Deepak and Suneeta were cousins and lived in Tando Allahyar. Marriages among cousins are taboo in Hinduism and the couple was socially ostracised after they decided to elope.
Suneeta, who has challenged Deepak’s custody in the Sindh High Court, learned about her husband’s “half-fry” episode the next day through the news. What she did not know was that her horrors were only just beginning.
“We rushed to the Hyderabad Civil Hospital and found Deepak in a serious condition. His clothes were full of blood,” she recalls claiming that Deepak was allegedly shot at 4pm but was only was moved to a hospital at 9pm.
Following advice from doctors, Deepak was first shifted to the Civil Hospital in Karachi where he was referred to the Liaquat National Hospital. There, his shot up left leg was amputated before being transferred to JPMC.
Deepak has now been at the JPMC for the past six months where he has suffered partial paralysis and is unable to move his right arm or leg owing to scant physiotherapy.
“He is the only bread earner of his family and now his career has been ruined,” says Suneeta.
“Even if Deepak found innocent, who will compensate us and bring both his legs back. Can he stand up again without any support,” she says with tears welling up in her eyes.
Identity crisis
After Deepak’s alleged encounter, Suneeta attempted to prove her husband’s identity.
“We ran from pillar to post, showing his identity card, domicile and other documents, but no one accepted them,” said a sobbing Suneeta, adding that police should conduct a DNA test to conclusively establish Deepak’s identity.
SHO Mughal, however, directed her to take it up with SSP Hyderabad Irfan Baloch.
The senior police officer toed the official police account, that Deepak was a notorious criminal.
“Let him die,” SSP Baloch told Deepak’s wife.
However, the officer later curiously promised to pay for Deepak’s treatment. But the aid also came with the advice to not drag the matter through the media.
An initial application Suneeta had filed at the Hyderabad registry of the SHC was withdrawn owing to what she says was ‘harassment’. But she has hope with a fresh application filed in Karachi which urges the SHC to drop charges against Deepak and provide compensation.
Taking notice of the situation, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial has promised an inquiry into the matter and to take action against any culpable police officers.
SSP Baloch, meanwhile, maintains the official police version that Deepak was apprehended during a shootout with Shareef’s gang after he had introduced himself as the notorious criminal.
“Despite this, we financially supported him. Now, the family has made a turnaround, and are calling him Dr Deepak,” he says.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2016.
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