Supreme Court puts brakes on Dr Shahnawaz Kumbhar custodial killing 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. The first FIR was registered at Sindhri Police Station, Mirpurkhas, on September 27, 2024, under sections 201, 364, 302, 34, 147, 148, 149 and 120-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 6 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, and Sections 8 and 9 of the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention and Punishment Act 2022. A second FIR was registered at the FIA’s Composite Circle Mirpurkhas on October 29, 2024, in connection with the allegation of custodial killing. Former DIG Mirpurkhas Javed Sonharo Jiskani, former SSP Mirpurkhas Muhammad Asad Chaudhry and former SSP Umerkot Asif Raza Baloch are among 23 accused in the case. The three police officers had approached the ATC Mirpurkhas seeking transfer of the case to the district court, arguing in effect that the terrorism provisions incorporated into the FIR should not apply. The ATC rejected their plea on October 23, 2025. They subsequently approached the SHC, but their two separate criminal revision applications were dismissed on December 12, 2025. However, a division bench of the SHC comprising Justice Miran Muhammad Shah and Justice Muhammad Hassan subsequently ordered the ATC on April 7, 2026, to transfer the case to the district and sessions court along with the complete record. The complainant has now challenged that transfer before the Supreme Court, seeking permission for the ATC to proceed with the trial. The apex court’s stay means the sessions court proceedings scheduled for September 29 can not proceed pending further orders in the matter.