KARACHI, May 30: The Sindh High Court on Thursday reserved judgement on the appeals of the convicts in the Sarfraz Shah murder case against their conviction.

A division bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the final arguments from deputy prosecutor general Khadim Hussain Khooharo, who vehemently opposed the convicts’ appeals, and reserved the pronouncement of the verdict to a date to be later announced by the court office.

The appeals of six Rangers personnel and a private contractor against their conviction in the Sarfraz Shah murder case were filed in August 2011.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC), headed by Bashir Ahmed Khoso, had sentenced Rangers constable Shahid Zafar to death and jailed sub-inspector Bahaur Rehman, lance naik Liaquat Ali and constables Mohammad Tariq, Manthar Ali and Afzal Khan for life on Aug 12, 2011. The civilian contractor, Afsar Khan, was also jailed for life in the case.

The victim, who was handed over to the Rangers personnel by the civilian contractor, was shot at and left to die inside the Benazir Shaheed Park in Clifton on June 8. The incident was filmed by a private TV channel cameraman and the footage was shown by various news channels.

Advocates Shaukat Hayat, Mehmood Alam Rizvi, Aamir Warraich and Habib Khan, representing the seven appellants, assailed the maintainability of the trial by the ATC. They submitted that the ATC had no jurisdiction to try the case against the personnel of law-enforcement agencies, because they said the appellants were on official duty.

The counsel stated in the appeals that the trial court wrongly held that the appellants had common intention for the commission of the offence. The trial court also did not appreciate the fact that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against the appellants by producing any tangible evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. They said the trial court used inadmissible evidence for convicting and sentencing the appellants as the impugned judgement was delivered against them under the influence of a digital video recorder, produced by the prosecution, which was against the law.

The counsel submitted that the trial court failed to appreciate the fact that the alleged offence was neither intentional nor planned nor had the appellants committed any overt act towards the commission of the offence.

They submitted that the appellants had been convicted contrary to the evidence available on the record and the trial court had passed the impugned judgement merely on the basis of presumptions, conjectures and surmises. They added that the prosecution did not rely upon the joint investigation team’s report that was of the opinion that the act was not terrorism.

They argued that prosecution witnesses recorded their statements four days after the incident without any explanation. They said the prosecution suppressed the evidence as well as the actual reasons behind the incident before the trial court.

The counsel submitted that the law-enforcement agency’s personnel shifted the injured victim to hospital after calling an ambulance and there was no common intention to kill him.

They requested the court to set aside the conviction as it was illegal and unlawful, and acquit the appellants of the charges.

It is noteworthy that the victim’s brother, Salik Shah, had also filed an appeal seeking enhancement in the sentences handed down to six Rangers personnel and the private contractor in the case.

However, he later withdrew his appeal.

On May 15, the victim’s brothers moved an application in the Sindh High Court on behalf of all legal heirs of the victim to enter into a compromise with the convicts.

The applicant, represented by Advocate Amir Mansoob Qureshi, also filed affidavits on behalf of other heirs of the victim.