SHC dismisses appeals of kidnappers

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Saturday dismissed the appeal of two convicts against the life imprisonment sentences that were handed down to them in a kidnapping for ransom case.

Saindad and Rajab Ali were sentenced to life in prison by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on November 25, 2016 for the kidnapping of a businessman for ransom.

According to the prosecution, the appellants had abducted Qamaruddin from the Karachi airport area on October 23, 2011 and demanded Rs2 million for his release. The kidnap victim was later released after the payment of Rs500,000 as ransom.

The appellants’ counsel said his clients were falsely implicated in the case, adding that there were major contradictions in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, while the prosecution had not proved the case against the appellants beyond a reasonable doubt.

The counsel said the prosecution witnesses had not provided any description of his clients, adding that the identification parade of the appellants had not been carried out in accordance with the law.

The additional prosecutor general supported the trial court’s judgment and contended that six different prosecution witnesses had produced trustworthy and reliable evidence against the two appellants.

He said the appellants were correctly identified during the identification parade, which was carried out in accordance with the law, and the delay in the identification parade was not fatal to the prosecution’s case.

Private and independent prosecution witnesses have fully deposed against the appellants on each aspect of the case, he added, and requested that the court dismiss the appeal of the two convicts.

After hearing the arguments of the case, the SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the appellants beyond any reasonable doubt. The court dismissed the appeals of both the convicts as well as upheld their life imprisonment sentences that were awarded to them by the trial court.

Another appeal

In another kidnapping for ransom case, the court dismissed the appeal of two convicts and maintained their life imprisonment sentences. Mohammad Zubair and Imran Ahsan were sentenced to life in prison by an ATC on June 15, 2015.

According to the prosecution, the appellants had kidnapped a property dealer’s son, namely Khurrum Javed, for ransom from the Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighbourhood on October 20, 2008, and released him after the payment of Rs1 million as ransom.

The trial court had earlier acquitted the co-accused Salman Qureshi owing to a lack of evidence, while another co-accused Laiba had turned approver and testified against Zubair and Ahsan.

However, after the perusal of the evidence of the case, the court dismissed the appeals of both the convicts and upheld their sentences.