SHC issues notices to IGP, others in missing persons cases

Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed federal and provincial law officers, Sindh inspector general of police (IGP) and others to file comments on petitions against illegal detention of citizens allegedly by the personnel of law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

Shabana Ureed and Khan Mohammad submitted in the petition that LEAs personnel picked up Syed Ureed Shahadat and Daulat Ali from FB area and Shah Latif Town respectively and their whereabouts were unknown since then. The petitioners submitted that neither were the police disclosing the whereabouts of detainees nor were they being produced before the court of law. They requested the SHC to direct the police and LEAs to produce the detainees and provide details of cases if any against them.

The high court directed federal and provincial law officers, the Sindh IGP and others to file comments on the petition within three weeks.

Conviction set aside

The SHC set aside the death sentence of a man in a murder case extending him the benefit of the doubt.

Mohammad Idrees was sentenced to death by an additional district and sessions court Malir that found him guilty for murdering a man in the Landhi area. According to the prosecution, the appellant killed Mohammad Abdullah in the Landhi area on October 10, 2014.

The appellant’s counsel submitted that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the appellant and evidence and statements of eyewitnesses were not trustworthy and could not be relied upon to convict the appellant.

A state counsel supported the prosecution case and requested the high court to dismiss the appeal. The SHC after hearing the arguments and perusal of the evidence of the case observed that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the appellant and there was no direct evidence against the appellant to convict him of murder charges. The high court set aside the sentence and ordered the release of the appellant if not required in other cases.