SC acquits former judge, co-accused in teen’s murder case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has acquitted Mithi former district and sessions judge Sikandar Lashari and co-accused Irfan Khan in the 2014 murder case of 19-year-old Aqib Shahani, son of Sindh High Court (SHC) judge Khalid Shahani, and ordered their release.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan accepted the appeals of the accused against the SHC decisions in the case of the so-called honor killing.

During the hearing, the lawyer for the accused, Latif Khosa, argued that his client, Sikandar Lashari, himself a judge of the subordinate judiciary in Sindh, was sentenced to death on the allegation of abetment in the murder case.

However, he contended that there was no solid evidence against him proving involvement in abetment or the murder.

The second lawyer of the accused, Faisal Siddiqui, argued that the deceased, Aqib Shahani, had an affair with the daughter of the accused judge, and the deceased’s phone contained messages from the accused’s daughter as part of the record.

At this, Justice Minallah inquired whether the phone had been forensically examined. “If the phone was never forensically tested, then what significance do such pieces of evidence hold,” he remarked.

Faisal Siddiqui responded that a video statement of the accused also existed in which he admitted that his intent was not to kill the deceased but merely to have him beaten up.

Justice Shahzad observed that there are judicial principles regarding the admissibility of such video evidence, which require certain legal conditions to be met.

Faisal Siddiqui countered that the accused had also recovered five pistols used in the murder. Justice Malik Shahzad questioned: “If the accused had hired killers to commit the murder, why would he keep the pistols with himself afterward?”

Justice Minallah remarked that this is a classic case showing that the criminal justice system in the country has collapsed. He asked: “Is this how murder investigations are carried out? How can decisions be made on mere hearsay? Can someone be punished based on possibilities?”

Subsequently, the court reserved the verdict and later announced the acquittal of the accused, ordering their release.

It is worth noting that on February 19, 2014, Aqib Shahani, the son of the then district and sessions judge (now SHC judge) Khalid Shahani, was killed in Hyderabad when four assailants opened indiscriminate fire on his car.

In this case, the girl’s father/accused, Sikandar Lashari, had been sentenced to death by the trial court for abetting the murder, while co-accused Irfan Khan had been sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy to murder.

The SHC had upheld these sentences on appeal, which was then challenged in the Supreme Court. It is pertinent to mention here that the four alleged killers involved in this case are still absconders.