SHC commutes death sentence of murder convicts into life imprisonment

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday dismissed the appeal of two convicts in a murder case but commuted their death sentence into life imprisonment.

Mohammad Jamil and Muneer Ahmed were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court that found them guilty of murdering a man outside the residence of a retired high court judge in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in November 2011.

According to the prosecution, the appellants had killed Ghulam Zain-ul Abdeen near the residence of a former judge of high court when he came along with his cousin Faisal Mehmood to meet the son of the former judge. Police claimed that the appellants were arrested later on the same day.

A counsel for the appellants submitted that police had falsely implicated their clients in the case and there were material contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses. They said that the identification parade of the appellants was conducted after 10 days of the incident in violation of the rules.

A deputy prosecutor general submitted that the appellants were arrested while they were fleeing after the murder and weapons were seized from their possession. He said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and requested the high court to dismiss the appeals.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, after hearing the arguments of the counsel and perusal of the evidence, observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the appellants beyond any reasonable doubt as the appellants were arrested after a police encounter and weapons were seized from their possession.

The bench observed that the prosecution, however, failed to prove the motive of the murder, which appeared to be a target killing, and it was not possible to ascertain which of the appellants fired the fatal shot at the deceased.

The court dismissed the appeal of convicts but converted their death sentence into life imprisonment.

SBCA told to take action

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to take action against the unauthorised construction on an amenity plot in PECHS Block 2 and submit a compliance report within a week.

The direction came on a petition of the K-Electric (KE) against the illegal construction on the amenity plot adjacent to a KE sub-station situated in PECHS Block 2.

A counsel for the petitioner submitted that a private builder had raised illegal construction on the amenity plot in PECHS Block 2, due to which the ventilation of the sub-station had been choked and there was imminent danger of fire breaking out at the said sub-station, causing huge damage in the vicinity. The counsel requested the court to order demolition of the illegal construction adjacent to the sub-station.

The SBCA filed a report before the SHC, submitting that the unauthorised construction had been partially demolished. The authority sought more time to submit a compliance report.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan directed the SBCA to remove the unauthorised construction on the amenity plot and submit a compliance report. The court also issued a notice to the PECHS secretary for appearance on September 14.