SHC reserves judgment on Shahrukh Jatoi, others’ appeals in Shahzaib murder case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday reserved judgment on appeals of Shahrukh Jatoi and other co-convicts in the Shahzaib Khan murder case after hearing the final arguments.

A special constituted bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, heard the appeals following a judgment of the Supreme Court that set aside the previous SHC’s judgment in which the court had struck down the conviction awarded by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) and remanded back the case to a sessions court for de novo trial.

The ATC had sentenced Shahrukh and Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur to death on June 7, 2013, while Siraj’s brother Nawab Sajjad Ali Talpur and Siraj’s employee Ghulam Murtaza Lashari were sentenced to life term. The court found them guilty of murdering private university student Shahzaib on December 24, 2012.

The complainant’s counsel, Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi, submitted that the original complainant of the case, Shahzaib’s father former DSP Aurangzaib Khan, had passed away while his wife and daughters were living abroad and did not want to come to Pakistan due to security reasons.

The lawyer submitted that the court’s registrar could contact Shahzaib’s mother and sisters through Skype for verification of the agreement with regard to pardon of the convicts. After hearing the arguments, the SHC reserved its judgment.

It is pertinent to mention that the family of Shahzaib had pardoned all the killers involved in the murder. Filing affidavits before the SHC, the family members submitted that they had pardoned the appellants outside the court without any pressure, coercion or interest but in the name of Almighty Allah.

The family maintained that they had waived their right of Qisas and Diyat and they would have no objection if the court acquitted the appellants in the larger interest of justice. The prosecution alleged that Lashari, an employee of Siraj, had eve-teased Shahzaib’s sister due to which Shahzaib exchanged angry words with Siraj and Shahrukh, who was Siraj’s friend, and others but the matter temporarily subsided due to the intervention of Shahzaib’s father Aurangzaib.

According to the prosecution, the accused followed Shahzaib after the brawl and later, on the instigation of absconding co-accused Asif Lund and Salman Jatoi, they made a murderous assault on Shahzaib with pistols on Khayaban-e-Bahria near Mubarak Masjid. Shahzaib succumbed to his injuries at Ziauddin hospital.

The brutal killing of Shahzaib allegedly by the persons belonging to influential families sparked public outrage and protest demonstrations by several civil society groups and ultimately the Supreme Court took suo motu notice over the incident and ordered the police to arrest the suspects and prosecute them without any delay.