KARACHI - The detonator of a hand grenade exploded during a demonstration requested by a judge in a Pakistani anti-terror court on Monday, wounded two cops and a court staffer and throwing the judge off his chair.
The dramatic sad incident, that’s equally ridiculously hilarious as well, which wounded a policeman and a court assistant, occurred during the trial in a Karachi anti-terrorism court of a man accused of being an extortionist and gangster who had carried out several grenade attacks.
Police claimed to have recovered a stash of grenades when they arrested him.
During the course of proceedings Judge Shakil Haider asked police to demonstrate how the device worked, a lawyer told AFP about the incident – a rather bizarre and possibly the first-of-its-kind in a Pakistani courtroom.
"Upon the request by the judge, the investigator tried to demonstrate the working of the grenade by pulling something out of it," defence lawyer Abdul Jabbar Lakho told reporters.
The judge was thrown from his chair by the blast, a witness said.
Senior police official Jamil Ahmed confirmed the incident, adding the part which exploded was the detonator which was thought to have been defused.
The explosive surrounding the detonator had already been made harmless, he said. "We are investigating as to how the detonator was brought to the court without being defused," Ahmed added. Ahmed said that the detonator, which carried a very small amount of explosive material, was packed in a glass utensil. He said that the judge had asked for the detonator to be presented in the ATC court-III on a request by the defence counsel.
Abid Ansari, investigating officer of Sindh Police from Kalakot station, was presenting the explosive device as case property in court.
Following the blast heavy contingents of police rushed on the spot and shifted the wounded persons to hospital.
Additional IG Mushtaq Mehar also took the notice of the incident and asked why not slandered operating procedures have been followed. Mehar also initiated an inquiry of the incident and assured the stern action against the responsible.