SC acquits Shahrukh in 2012 Shahzeb murder case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Tuesday acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi and others in the high-profile murder case of Shahzeb Khan, son of the-then DSP Sindh Police.

Shahrukh Jatoi, Siraj Talpur and two security guards Murtaza Lashari and Sajjad Talpur were convicted of murdering Shahzeb Khan on December 24, 2012 over a petty argument. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsen, heard the appeals of Shahrukh Jatoi challenging his life imprisonment.

Sardar Latif Khosa, counsel for Shahrukh Jatoi, submitted before the court that the family members of the deceased had already entered into a settlement with the family of Shahrukh Jatoi.

He further submitted that the accused had no plan of spreading terrorism adding that the incident was painted as a terrorist activity. The court, after hearing the counsel, acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi and other accused and disposed of the case.

An anti-terrorism court handed death sentences to Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur in the case but a single bench of the Sindh High Court removed the Anti-Terrorism Act clauses from the case and sent it to a trial court.

The trial court then granted them bail in the case. However, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the case and ordered the Sindh High Court to reexamine the case after the civil society raised the issue.

In May 2019, the Sindh High Court commuted the death sentences of Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur to life imprisonment. The court had also upheld the life imprisonment of two other suspects Murtaza Lashari and Sajjad Talpur in the case. Later on, all the accused approached the apex court against their life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the federal government will appeal against the Supreme Court verdict in the high-profile Shahzeb Khan murder case acquitting Shahrukh Jatoi and other accused. “The Office of the Attorney General will be filing a review petition against the judgment of the Supreme Court in Shahrukh Jatoi v. The State thr. A.G. Sindh pending issuance of detailed reasons, in the interest of justice,” says a statement issued by the Office of Attorney General for Pakistan after the apex court judgment.

“It is with concern that the Office of the Attorney General for Pakistan has noted the acquittal of the accused in Criminal Appeal No. 402/2019 titled Shahrukh Jatoi v. The State thr. A.G. Sindh (Shahzeb Khan murder case) by the Supreme Court, without seeking the position of the Attorney-General,” the statement added.

It stated that this is despite the instant case having already been adjudicated to be one of constitutional importance by the Supreme Court, which mandates seeking the assistance of the Attorney-General – as has been sought previously in petitions pertaining to the same matter.

The AG’s Office recalled that in the case of Muhammad Jibran Nasir v. State, the Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali had already contended that the accused persons had committed an act of egregious terrorism, and that the impugned acquittal order of the Sindh High Court dated 28.11.2017 was per incuriam in view of the Supreme Court’s own order that the accused be tried within the ambit of anti-terrorism provisions.

“The Attorney General’s position was duly accepted in the judgment of the Supreme Court, reported as PLD 2018 SC 351 and subsequently, convictions of the accused were upheld in appeal by the Sindh High Court, which followed convictions duly handed down after close consideration of the evidence at trial by the Learned Judge, Anti-Terrorism Court No. III, Karachi,” says the statement.

The AG office statement further reads, “Be that as it may, in the event that the Apex Court has arrived at an outcome outside of its own previous pronouncements relating to antiterrorism offences, the Attorney General’s assistance must regardless be sought as to the acceptance of compromise, the scope of fisad-fil-arz, and the particular circumstances of the instant case – in a which a review of judgment would be eminent.”