KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has commuted the death sentence of two women into life imprisonment and set aside the life term of a juvenile in a case pertaining to the murder of a Pak Sarzameen Party leader.

A model court had sentenced Hajira Bibi alias Seemi and her daughter Shaina Hameed to death in January 2020 for abetting, planning and instigating the killing of her stepson Abdul Habib. The court also awarded life term to underage accused Haroon for facilitating the absconding accused Syed Wali, brother of Hajira, in the murder.

The deceased was a local leader of the PSP and gunned down in North Nazimabad in February 2019.

The appellants through their lawyers filed appeals against the trial court order and after hearing both sides and examining record and proceedings of the case, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha allowed the appeal of Haroon by extending him the benefit of doubt.

The court dismissed the appeals of both the women appellants but reduced their sentence.

Acquits a juvenile appellant who was sentenced to life term for facilitating hitman in murdering a PSP leader

The bench in its order said the prosecution had proved that on the account of some internal disputes, the women appellants had planned, instigated and abetted the murder and the person who carried out the killing was their close relative.

The phones of the appellants contained an incriminating voice message from the murderer, which directly linked them with the offence while as per forensic evidence, the women deleted other messages on their phones on the direction of the caller who admitted murdering the victim by shooting him in the head, it added.

However, it noted that with regard to sentencing, “extra care and caution must be taken in the cases of circumstantial evidence before handing down death penalty and the roles of women also confined to abetment and instigation and even motive behind the killing was doubtful”.

“We hereby reduce the death sentences handed down to each of the lady appellants to one of life imprisonment each with all other fines, compensation and other sentences in the impugned judgement remaining intact,” it added.

Turning to the appeal of underage appellant, the bench observed that two eyewitnesses had picked out him before a judicial magistrate during an identification parade, but there were serious defects in the parade which raised doubt to its legal value.

It further noted that the appellant was not arrested on the spot, but apprehended later in illegal arm case and if the bench believed the evidence of eyewitnesses that one person fired at the victim and that person was not the appellant in question.

The empties recovered from crime site were not matched with the weapon recovered from Haroon and the motorcycle allegedly used in the crime was not registered in the name of appellant and police recovered the same from the house of one Zameer, it added.

The bench extended him the benefit of doubt and observed that it was the “golden principle of criminal jurisprudence that prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and the benefit of doubt must go to the accused by way of right as opposed to concession”.

The prosecution said that the victim, who had also contested last general election on a PSP ticket on a provincial assembly seat, left his house in his jeep for party headquarters. Armed assailants riding a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire on him near Serena mobile market in North Nazimabad and fled.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2022