Man acquitted of murder after SHC doubts prosecution’s case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has set aside the life imprisonment of a man who was convicted of murdering a woman after snatching her jewellery. The court said the prosecution had failed to prove the charges.

Mehboob Ali had been sentenced to a life term for killing Aliya after snatching her jewellery in Nazimabad on November 25, 2009. The trial court had acquitted his wife Quratulain after she turned approver in the case.

According to the prosecution, Mehboob Ali had strangled Aliya to death and then dumped her body packed in a gunny bag, which was later found near a park in Nazimabad. Mehboob Ali’s counsel said the appellant had been convicted on the basis of his wife’s statement in the trial court, adding that the recovery of the jewellery was suspicious.

The counsel said the appellant’s wife had subsequently married the husband of the deceased, adding that the appellant was falsely implicated in the case by Quratulain. The counsel also questioned the identity of the deceased, asking whether the body that was found actually belonged to Aliya or some other woman because it was not confirmed through any independent witness.

The additional prosecutor general, however, supported the judgment of the trial court, and said that the prosecution had proved its case against the appellant. After hearing the arguments of the counsel, and perusing the evidence and record of the case, a single SHC bench headed by Justice Omar Sial said that the prosecution’s case was highly doubtful.

The court questioned the pardon of Quratulain by the trial court, and said that the exercise had been carried out in an extremely casual and unserious manner. The bench said that the deputy district prosecutor and the trial court had erred in approving the tender of pardon to Quratulain by not adhering to the relevant provisions of the law. The court said her evidence could not be relied upon because she was a dishonest witness who should not have been treated as an approver, and her evidence was inadmissible.

The bench said that the procedure followed to give the co-accused a tender of pardon was flawed, and no trustworthy and reliable evidence corroborating what the co-accused said in her statement was collected.

The court said that the place of the incident and the identity of the body remained doubtful, while the recovery of the jewellery was also doubtful. The bench said that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the appellant, and set aside the trial court’s judgment.