SHC sets aside death sentence in double murder case

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday set aside the conviction of a man who had been awarded the death sentence for in a double murder case by an anti-terrorism court.

Nazeer Ahmed had been sentenced to death for murdering two persons, including a police constable, and injuring another man in the limits of the Darakhshan police station on April 7, 2019.

According to the prosecution, Ahmed, along with his absconding accomplices, had fired gunshots at police constable Khalid, who was on intelligence duty, Ramzan and Saeed Ahmed, leaving Khalid and Ramzan dead and Saeed injured.

The appellant’s counsel, Mohammad Farooq, argued that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges and the trial court did not assess the evidence of the case properly. He submitted that identification parade of the appellant was conducted after a delay of unexplained seven days, while an alleged vehicle used in the incident was not registered in the name of his client. He said no close-circuit TV camera or private witness was examined by the police to corroborate their version. He requested the court to acquit the appellant, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The additional prosecutor general supported the trial court order and requested the court to dismiss the appeal. After hearing the arguments of the counsel and perusal of the evidence, a high court division bench, comprising Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, observed that incident took place in night hours and the accused was not known to any prosecution witness. It also observed that the prosecution witness denied the identification of the appellant during recording his evidence.

The court said the prosecution failed to ascertain the motive of the commission of the offence and not a single word had been deposed by the prosecution witnesses against the appellant in respect of the motive. It said that only it was alleged that on the night of the offence the accused/appellant resorted to firing which resulted in the deaths of two persons and injury to one other person.

It further remarked that all the evidence produced by the prosecution was completely unreliable and utterly deficient to prove the charge against the appellant beyond a reasonable doubt. The court set aside the trial court order and acquitted the appellant from charges, if not required in other cases.