SHC sets aside convictions of four in kidnapping and murder case

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday set aside the conviction of four persons, including two women, in a kidnapping and murder case observing that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them.

Mohsin Raza, Adnan Hyder, Shazia and Nazia were sentenced to life in prison on January 12, 2010 for kidnapping Sohrab Khan from Karachi airport area for ransom. Raza was also sentenced to death for murdering Sohrab, who was a clearing forwarding agent.

According to the prosecution, the defendants kidnapped Sohrab Khan on June 21, 2008 and received Rs80,000 as ransom from his friend for his release. However, later, Mohsin killed Sohrab and left his body in his car.

The accused appealed against the conviction and requested the high court to set aside the trial court’s order as the prosecution failed to establish its case. It is pertinent to mention that proceedings of one of the appellants, Shazia, who was the wife of Mohsin, stand abated on December 2, 2016 as she died in prison during pendency of the appeal.

The counsel for the appellants submitted to the SHC that the prosecution’s entire case was based on the co-accused Nazia’s confessional statement, which was not voluntarily given and was against the principles laid down by the law. They submitted that eyewitnesses were interested witnesses and their testimonies were not reliable under the law.On the other hand, the assistant public prosecutor opposed the appeal and requested the court to dismiss it.

After hearing the arguments and perusing the evidence, the SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar observed that the prosecution failed to prove its case against the appellants and witnesses were interested whose testimonies were contradictory. The court then set aside the conviction of the appellants and ordered their release if not required in other cases.

Appeals dismissed

Separately, the SHC dismissed the appeal of two convicts in a kidnapping and murder case. Faiz Ahmed and Mohammad Waqas were sentenced to life imprisonment on October 11, 2008 by the anti-terrorism court, which found them guilty of kidnapping Sikandar for ransom and killing him on March 11, 2007. According to the prosecution, appellants kidnapped Sikandar from Joharabad area and demanded Rs1 million as ransom.

The court observed that the prosecution proved its case against the appellants who kidnapped Sikandar and later killed him in cold blood. Moreover, the court also dismissed the appeal of five persons who were convicted in a drug case.

Abdul Ghani, Barkat Ali, Hakim, Khan Mohammad and Abdul Moid were sentenced to life imprisonment by the control of narcotics substance court on August 29, 2014 for possessing aggregated 122 kilogrammes of hashish and other contrabands in Landhi area.

Administrative units

The SHC issued notices to federal and provincial law officers on a petition which sought the division of the Sindh province into seven states or administrative units, besides Karachi as an autonomous state.

Azmat Wali submitted in the petition that division of the province from an administrative point of view was necessary and would be in the best interest of the province.

He said that several foreign countries had no more than a population of five million of their provinces, which was necessary for the administration and securing the rights of the citizens. He said Sindh should be divided into seven autonomous states/administrative units -- Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Sukkur, Larkana, Dadu and Jacobabad -- and each state would be responsible to generate revenue for its expenses and all the management system. He submitted that every state of Sindh was rich and capable to maintain its expenses and could generate more revenue than its requirements.

The court was requested to order the division of the territory of Sindh into seven states and Karachi as an independent state to run the administrative matters. A division bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to federal and provincial law officers and called their comments on May 8.